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Persecutory delusions and autobiographical memory
S Kaney1, K Bowen-Jones, R P Bentall
1Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool, UK.
Objectives:
It was hypothesized that people with persecutory delusions, such as depressed people, would experience difficulty when attempting to generate specific autobiographical memories.
Design:
20 deluded participants, 20 depressed patients and 20 normal controls were compared on an autobiographical memory test.
Methods:
Participants attempted to recall memories to positive and negative cue words. Independent raters classified responses as specific, general, imaginary or unscorable. Over-general memories were further classified as extended or categorical.
Results:
Deluded participants recalled significantly more general (especially categorical) memories and fewer specific memories than the normal control subjects. Depressed participants showed little evidence of over-general memories, although they showed faster recall latencies to negative than to positive cues.
Conclusions:
People with paranoid delusions show information processing features similar to those previously reported in people with depression. The possible contribution of adverse experiences to over-general autobiographical recall is discussed.