title: 'Poor me' versus 'Bad me' paranoia: the association between self-beliefs and the instability of persecutory ideation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether different self-attributes would be associated with different degrees of deservedness of persecution in a clinical paranoid sample.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Some studies have shown differences between the self-esteem (SE) of individuals with 'Poor Me' (PM) and 'Bad Me' (BM) paranoia (Bentall et al., 2009; Chadwick, Trower, Juusti-Butler, & Maguire, 2005). Most studies investigating this relationship have employed a cross-sectional design, precluding the investigation of changes over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the cross-sectional part of the study, 45 clinical participants and 25 controls were assessed in terms of paranoia, deservedness of persecution, SE, self-discrepancies, daily events, and coping strategies. In the longitudinal part of the study, the clinical group was re-assessed over a period of another 2 days, in order to study changes in these variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, there were no differences between the SE of the two paranoia presentations, which was significantly lower than the controls'. However, the paired-samples repeated analysis found the SE of individuals when in a PM presentation was higher than when they were BM. Only BM paranoia was found to be associated with higher self-ideal:self-actual self-discrepancies than the other groups. The longitudinal analysis indicated that, having been PM and having low SE at the previous assessment day made it more likely that individuals would be in BM subsequently. No differences in causal attributions made for ecological events were found between the groups. Higher SE was found to be more likely when individuals coped with adversities by using social support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both deservedness of persecution and self-views appear to be unstable in individuals with paranoia and to change consistently over time, a finding which is in keeping with Bentall et al.'s (2001) dynamic model of paranoia.
authors.affiliation: The University of Birmingham, UK. ssm879@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sara Sigmaringa
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Bentall
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult