Relationship of absorption, depersonalisation, and self-focused attention in subjects with and without hallucination proneness.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this work was to study the relationship of absorption, depersonalisation, and self-focused attention in subjects prone to hallucination.


METHODS
A sample of 218 healthy subjects was given the LSHS-R Hallucination Scale (Bentall & Slade, 1985). Three groups, subjects with high, medium, and low hallucination proneness, were formed from this sample. The Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS; Sierra & Berrios, 2000), and Self-Absorption Scale (SAS; McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008) were also given to all the participants. The Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30; Wells & Cartwright-Hatton, 2004) was used as a covariant to control for the effects of emotional vulnerability on the dependent variables studied.


RESULTS
The results showed that subjects highly prone to hallucinations had significantly higher absorption, depersonalisation, and self-focused attention than the subjects in the other two groups. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that absorption and depersonalisation predict hallucination proneness.


CONCLUSIONS
The importance of the absorption, depersonalisation, and self-focused attention variables for understanding the aetiology of hallucinations is discussed in the Conclusions, where some approaches to its treatment are also suggested.
a Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBiS) , University Hospital Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/University of Seville , Seville , Spain.
Salvador
S
Perona-Garcelán
José M
JM
García-Montes
Juan Francisco
JF
Rodríguez-Testal
Miguel
M
Ruiz-Veguilla
María del Mar
Mdel M
Benítez-Hernández
Ana María
AM
López-Jiménez
María Ángeles
MÁ
Arias-Velarde
María Jesús
MJ
Ductor-Recuerda
María Teresa
MT
Gómez-Gómez
Marino
M
Pérez-Álvarez
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000523:psychology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult