Intersections of paranoia and the body in the general population

Abstract

Negative body image may be associated with heightened feelings of paranoia. The current study aimed to conduct multidimensional assessments of body image and psychosis facets in the general population. Respondents were 407 individuals, who provided basic sociodemographic information, and completed online questionnaires evaluating dysmorphic concerns, body consciousness, paranoia, persecutory and magical ideation and perceptual aberration. Correlation analysis and a series of regressions onto various body image facets (i.e. dysmorphic concerns, private body consciousness, public body consciousness and body competence) were conducted. Distinct patterns of significant associations were uncovered across the range of body image and psychosis facets examined. Paranoia significantly contributed to the severity of dysmorphic concerns, and magical ideation significantly contributed to private and public body consciousness, though effect sizes were modest. Our findings corroborate the relationship between paranoia and dysmorphic concerns, and tentatively suggest that challenging paranoid beliefs could be a useful strategy for managing negative body image.

The experience of body image in people with psychosis and psychotic-like experiences: a co-produced mixed methods systematic review and narrative synthesis.

“…Moreover, paranoia mediated relationships between feeling larger and having appearance concerns (B = -.25, total effect confidence interval did not include zero) 29 . In another study paranoia, but not persecutory ideation significantly contributed to the prediction of body dysmorphic symptoms 30 .…”

The way they look at me makes me feel worse about my body. How can paranoia-like thoughts lead to a more negative body image?

“…At the same time, some work suggests that the relationship between body image and paranoia-like thoughts may be bidirectional. Very recently, paranoid thoughts have been shown to contribute to increased body dysmorphic concerns and thus a more negative body image (Toh, Phillipou, Neill, & Rossell, 2022). Another study hypothesized that the link between body image and paranoia may operate in a feedback loop (Bagrowska et al, 2022).…”