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Social relationships and quality of life moderate distress associated with delusional ideation

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In a previous study, individuals who followed a particular new religious movement (NRM) reported significantly less distress even though they reported similar levels of delusional ideation when compared with individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders. Protective factors such as social relationship quality and quality of life (QOL) were hypothesized to explain attenuated distress associated with delusional ideation.

Methods

NRM individuals (n = 29), individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders (n = 25), and control individuals (n = 63) were recruited. Psychotic symptoms, delusion-proneness, and facets of social relationships quality and QOL were examined across group. Potential moderators of the relationship between group membership and distress were further examined in multiple regression models.

Results

NRM participants reported more social relationships that were of higher quality (as demonstrated by more crisis supports, unique and overlap supports, more helpful supports and more reciprocated supports) than individuals with psychotic disorders. NRM participants also reported significantly higher QOL than individuals with psychotic disorders. Furthermore, NRM participants reported more distinct and less reciprocated supports, and significantly higher psychological, environmental, and total QOL, when compared with control participants. The relationship between group membership, delusional ideation, and distress was moderated by relationship reciprocity as well as by total QOL.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the importance of establishing healthy reciprocal social relationships and improving QOL in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders, as these factors may act as a buffer against distress associated with delusional beliefs.

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Notes

  1. The term ‘New religious movements’ (NRMs) is coined by sociologists to describe religions that have been more visible since World War II, even though the origins of some NRMs like the Hare Krishnas have roots that stem back to the 16th century monk Chaitanya Mahaprabhu [6]

  2. The conventional calculation of the PDI-21 is to add all endorsements on each of the D, P and C subscale, respectively [26]. This scoring method for this sample can be found in Lim et al. [9, 10]

  3. Posthoc Tukey HSD tests were also conducted to test for a more conservative estimate of specific group differences. There were, however, no changes in crucial test results other than for one subdomain of Quality of Life (Environmental; see Table 3)

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the individuals who participated in this study.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

This study was approved by the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee, Melbourne Health and Eastern Health Human Research Ethics Committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1125, Psychology Bldg., St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Michelle H. Lim & Katya C. Fernandez

  2. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Michelle H. Lim & Henry J. Jackson

  3. School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

    John F. Gleeson

Authors
  1. Michelle H. Lim
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  2. John F. Gleeson
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  3. Henry J. Jackson
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  4. Katya C. Fernandez
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Correspondence to Michelle H. Lim.

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Lim, M.H., Gleeson, J.F., Jackson, H.J. et al. Social relationships and quality of life moderate distress associated with delusional ideation. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49, 97–107 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0738-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0738-3

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