An exploration of self‐complexity in individuals experiencing auditory hallucinations

Abstract

Linville's self-complexity (SC) theory suggests that reduced SC exacerbates the effects of stress, thereby creating a vulnerability to psychopathology. This exploratory study investigated SC in individuals experiencing auditory hallucinations. Twenty-two clinical participants experiencing auditory hallucinations were recruited from inpatient and outpatient services. Twenty-two control participants, matched on age and gender, were recruited from non-clinical settings. All participants completed a card sort task relating to the self, and questionnaires of affect, self-esteem and recent stress. Although groups did not differ in unitary SC, clinical participants displayed significantly reduced positive SC (pos-SC) compared with controls. Pos-SC was positively correlated with increased psychological well-being, while negative SC was inversely related, across both groups. No stress-buffering effects for SC were found. Findings are discussed with respect to previous literature, and clinical and research implications of the study are addressed, particularly in relation to the therapeutic potential for increasing pos-SC in patients distressed by auditory hallucinations.

Health and Adaptation in a Multiple Self

“…Swarbrick, Bentall, and Wittkowski (2006) found that individuals with paranoid delusions had lower levels of self-complexity compared with a non-clinical control group. Bell and Wittkowski (2009) instead found no such relation when comparing a sample of persons with auditory hallucinations to healthy controls. One possibility explored by Bell and Wittkowski is that the relevant factor was not the overall multiplicity of the self, but the presence of a nuanced view of either positive or negative aspects of the self.…”

Bringing the “self” into focus: conceptualising the role of self-experience for understanding and working with distressing voices

“…In individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, low self-concept clarity has been found to predict higher levels of positive symptoms, lower subjective quality of life and increased risk of perceived exposure to stigmatization ( Weinberg et al, 2012 ; Noyman-Veksler et al, 2013 ). In relation to voice hearing specifically, Bell and Wittkowski (2009) found evidence for reduced positive self complexity in voice hearers, and an association between higher positive self complexity and increased psychological wellbeing. However, at odds with the predictions of early dialogical theories, a recent study found that the phenomenology of inner speech in voice hearers does not differ significantly from that of non-clinical participants ( Langdon et al, 2009 ).…”

Trauma and psychosis: The mediating role of self-concept clarity and dissociation

“…a selfconcept which lacks integration) is an important precursor to the development of psychological problems (Lutz and Ross, 2003). It has been suggested that a damaged self-concept may confer risk of psychosis (Bell and Wittkowski, 2009). Indeed, phenomenological approaches have implicated a disturbed basic sense of self in prodromal psychosis (Nelson et al, 2009), and evidence suggests that a lack of unity within the self-concept structure may be related to psychosis-like experiences (Preston, 2008).…”