Relationships between worry, psychotic experiences and emotional distress in patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and comparisons with anxious and non-patient groups

Background This study tests the hypothesis that worry is associated with psychotic experiences and examines whether worry would contribute significantly to emotional response independently of the intensity of psychotic experiences. This study also explores differences in worry between patients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, patients with anxiety disorders and non-patients. Method Fifty-one patients with psychotic diagnoses, 40 patients with anxiety disorders and 60 non-patients were assessed on measures of psychotic experiences, cognitive components of anxiety and depression. Results Dimensions of worry were associated with dimensions of delusional ideation and with psychotic experiences and social worry predicted emotional responses over and above the intensity of psychotic experiences. Both clinical groups had significantly higher levels of worry in comparison with non-patients. Conclusions These findings suggest that worry may be implicated in psychotic experiences and that people with psychotic diagnoses experience high levels of worry. The clinical implications of the findings are also discussed.