An experimental investigation into the role of ruminative and mindful self-focus in non-clinical paranoia.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Ruminative self-focus is a maladaptive form of emotional processing and is linked to distress, whereas mindful self-focus is adaptive and linked to low distress. However, the effects of these different modes of self-focus have not yet been examined in symptoms associated with psychotic disorders, such as paranoid ideation. This study aimed to explore whether inducing ruminative self-focus maintains paranoid ideation whilst inducing mindful self-focus reduces paranoid ideation.

METHOD

Thirty-two non-clinical participants engaged in a paranoia induction prime and then took part in an eight-minute ruminative self-focus induction and an eight-minute mindful self-focus induction.

RESULTS

Following an induction of paranoia, mindful self-focus significantly decreased levels of paranoia, whereas ruminative self-focus had no significant impact on levels of paranoia, and therefore was interpreted as having maintained paranoia.

LIMITATIONS

The study used non clinical participants and the level of paranoid ideation experienced was fairly mild, which limits generalisation to clinical levels of distress. Additionally, the mechanism by which rumination and mindful self-focus have their effects was not examined.

CONCLUSIONS

The results add to the growing body of evidence that there are two distinct modes of self-focus that have differential effects on emotional processing. These findings also demonstrate the potential benefit of interventions targeting rumination in paranoid ideation with mindful self-focus.