Psychotic Like Experiences (PLES) in Perinatal Women version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Psychotic Like Experiences (PLES) in perinatal women: The role of psychological distress and cognitive biases
IRAS ID
247390
Contact name
Katy Bovis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 2 days
Research summary
Accurate and timely identification of mental health difficulties in the perinatal period is a current United Kingdom (U.K.) healthcare priority. The ‘perinatal’ period is defined as the time from conception until 12 months after birth. Psychotic Like Experiences (PLEs) are unusual subjective experiences such as hearing things or unusual beliefs. Research tells us these experiences are common in the general population, including during the perinatal period. For most, such unusual experiences are transient with no associated distress or long term impact. However, for some they have been linked with an increased risk of developing psychosis and more recently, unusual subjective experiences have been linked to greater severity and poorer outcomes in non-psychotic mental health difficulties, such as depression and anxiety. Research has also found that certain ways of thinking e.g. greater attention to threat, inflated sense of responsibility, have been linked to greater severity of psychotic symptoms. We would like to better understand if these ways of thinking are associated with greater prevalence of unusual experiences and/or distress in perinatal women. Higher levels of depression and anxiety have been shown to predict unusual experiences in the perinatal period but there is little research exploring the role of thinking styles on their prevalence or impact on emotional distress. This study will explore (1) if PLEs are associated with psychological distress (high rates of anxiety and/or depression) in perinatal women (2) if specific thinking styles, known to play a role in the maintenance of clinically psychotic symptoms, are associated with levels of PLEs (3) if specific thinking styles predict distress predict greater levels of PLEs. Supportive findings may help improve understanding of the mechanisms which drive psychological distress in perinatal women and subsequently improve identification of women who may be at greater risk of developing mental health difficulties in the perinatal period.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
18/ES/0097
Date of REC Opinion
11 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion