Acting on voices: Omnipotence, sources of threat, and safety‐seeking behaviours

Abstract

Acting on voices can be conceptualized as a form of safety seeking, associated with maintaining beliefs about voice omnipotence and distress.

The role of safety-seeking behaviours in maintaining threat appraisals in psychosis

“…The mean raw SBQ score in the Impairment group (mean ¼ 17.70) was similar to the Impairment group in Freeman et al (2007;Mean ¼ 20.5) and Hacker et al (2008;Mean ¼ 19.47). Eighty two percent of the Impairment group and 61% of the Persistence group used a safety behaviour in the last month.…”

“…Some evidence supports the role of safety behaviours in maintaining impairment in psychosis (Campbell & Morrison, 2007;Freeman et al, 2007;Hacker, Birchwood, Tudway, Meaden, & Amphlett, 2008;Nothard, Morrison, & Wells, 2008). For instance, Freeman et al (2007) examined 100 people with current persecutory delusions.…”

“…Ninety-six percent of patients reported that they had used a safety behaviour in the last month, and a greater use of safety behaviours was related to higher levels of anxiety, depression and delusional distress. Hacker et al (2008) looked at safety behaviours in 23 voice hearers with psychosis diagnoses. Over 80% of the voice hearers had used a safety behaviour in the last month, and safety behaviour use was related to distress.…”

Auditory hallucinations: a review of assessment tools

“…BAVQ-R omnipotence and malevolence scores were related to perception of threat, the use of safety-seeking behaviours and distress (Hacker, Birchwood, Tudway, Meaden, & Amphlett, 2008). BAVQ-R omnipotence scores have been found to be associated with compliance with threatening command hallucinations (Shawyer et al, 2008).…”

Capturing coping with symptoms in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia: introducing the MACS‐24

“…In the current report, the relative proportion of coping was even smaller at 3.5%, which likely refl ects in part the fact that the majority of the sample were not in a state of acute exacerbation of psychosis. This suggests that using the MACS may help individuals become conscious of the possibility of 'empowerment' (Birchwood et al, 2000;Hacker et al, 2007) through coping and develop efforts to apply more coping strategies. Second, using MACS-24 brings into focus the fact that symptoms do not arise in a psychological vacuum, but give rise to interactions between person and psychopathology, that impact on well-being and outcome.…”