ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a cognitive intervention for an individual with a persecutory delusion. This intervention was based upon a multi-factorial formulation that incorporated both processes associated with psychosis and processes traditionally associated with neurosis. The idea that delusions are continuous rather than discontinuous with normal beliefs has led to the proposal that the 'confirmation bias', a tendency only to look for evidence consistent with beliefs, will maintain and enhance delusions. Chadwick notes such a reasoning bias in his first-hand account of an episode of psychosis. Bentall and colleagues have recently reframed and re-examined the idea that persecutory delusions result from defensive processes. A multi-factorial perspective on the formation and maintenance of delusional beliefs allows the integration of ideas from research into emotional disorders. Bentall and colleagues' defence account of persecutory delusions postulates an indirect role for processes associated with depression, examining the hypothesis that the avoidance of negative emotion is the motivation for delusion formation.
