Impact of conspiracist ideation and psychotic-like experiences in patients with schizophrenia during the COVID-19 crisis

Álex Escolà-Gascón*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Indexed journal article Articlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Conspiratorial belief is a type of argument that accepts implausible explanations in situations of great uncertainty or mystery. Claiming that the coronavirus is an artificial fabrication of laboratories is an example of conspiracist belief. The aim of this research was to analyze the impact of conspiracist ideation and psychotic-like experiences in patients with schizophrenia, patients with other mental disorders, and participants with no psychiatric history with a 132-day follow-up during the COVID-19 crisis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied and Bayesian inferences were carried out. The results conclude that conspiracist ideation and psychotic-like experiences increased significantly after 132 days of social-health restrictions in the general population. However, psychotic-like experiences did not increase in patients with schizophrenia. Conspiracist ideation has a quantitative degradation similar to the continuum model of psychosis; it is present both in patients with schizophrenia and in those participants with no clinical history. The psychopathological value of conspiracist ideation within the spectrum of psychosis is discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)135-148
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Psychiatric Research
Volume146
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Conspiracist ideation
  • Psychotic-like experiences
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Schizophrenia
  • Schizotypy

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