Understanding and treating severe paranoia
David Sher (DPhil Psychiatry, 2020) has published a new article in the British Medical Journal (Mental Health). The article, on which David is lead author, explores ‘Potential research priorities for understanding and treating severe paranoia (persecutory delusions): a priority-setting partnership between patients, carers, mental health staff, and researchers.’
David says,
‘Until this point, the research priorities of people with persecutory delusions (severe paranoia) and their carers were unknown. For the first time, people with severe paranoia have been formally consulted and have revealed which research topics they feel should be prioritised.’
People with lived experience of severe paranoia, family members, mental health staff, and researchers suggested research questions on severe paranoia to be prioritised. In a subsequent phase of the study, participants with lived experience of severe paranoia, family members, mental health staff, and researchers selected their top questions to be prioritised for research on severe paranoia.
In this paper, the authors describe the 15 research priorities for severe paranoia which were most-endorsed by participants. The work was completed under the supervision of the Chair of Psychology at the Oxford University Department of Experimental Psychology, Professor Daniel Freeman, and a steering group with several lived experience representatives oversaw the conduct of the study.
