Parental Alienation The weeks before 100 persecutory delusions: the presence of many potential contributory causal factors
Table 1
Endorsement of checklist items
| Item | n |
|---|---|
| Length of delusion onset | |
| It took years to be certain what was occurring. | 21 |
| There was a build up over several months in trying to be sure what was going on. | 30 |
| There was a build up over a few weeks in trying to be sure what was going on. | 24 |
| There were a few days working out exactly what was happening to me. | 6 |
| I knew instantly that others were definitely trying to harm me, there was no build up at all. Things just changed in a day. | 17 |
| Missing data | 2 |
| Worry | |
| I’d been worrying a lot. | 80 |
| In my mind I had been going over problems again and again. | 75 |
| I’d been worrying about losing control. | 59 |
| I’d been worrying that I couldn’t control my thoughts as well as I would like. | 68 |
| Any of these items. | 94 |
| Images | |
| I kept having images in my mind of bad things happening. | 75 |
| Low self-esteem and depression | |
| I felt very negative about myself. | 75 |
| I felt inferior to others. | 66 |
| My self-confidence got really low. | 84 |
| I just didn’t feel like my normal self. | 77 |
| I felt like I would make a fool of myself in front of others. | 59 |
| I was tormented by something, though I didn’t know what it was. | 62 |
| I became more passive and withdrawn. | 58 |
| Any of these items. | 95 |
| Poor sleep | |
| I was having problems getting or staying to sleep. | 75 |
| I was sleeping at all the wrong times. | 37 |
| I was having nightmares. | 50 |
| I did not feel that I needed any sleep at all. | 21 |
| Any of these items. | 85 |
| Dissociation | |
| I felt strange, as if I were not real or as if I were cut-off from the world. | 62 |
| My surroundings felt detached or unreal, as if there was a veil between me and the outside world. | 54 |
| I felt automatic and mechanical as if I were a robot. | 25 |
| I became preoccupied with my own world | 65 |
| Any of these items. | 82 |
| Mood dysregulation | |
| My mood was very up and down. | 66 |
| It was hard to control my emotions. | 67 |
| Any of these items. | 80 |
| Manic symptoms | |
| I was highly excitable. | 25 |
| I had difficulties concentrating. | 77 |
| My thoughts were jumping around too much. | 76 |
| I had so many thoughts that I couldn’t keep track. | 59 |
| Any of these items. | 87 |
| Aberrant salience | |
| I was analysing everything in great detail. | 72 |
| I became interested in people, events, places, or ideas that normally would not make an impression on me. | 33 |
| My senses were sharpened. I became fascinated by the little insignificant things around me. | 54 |
| Sights and sounds possessed a keenness that I had never experienced before. | 34 |
| My senses seemed alive. Things seemed clear cut, I noticed things I had never noticed before. | 46 |
| Certain trivial things suddenly seemed especially important or significant to me. | 70 |
| Any of these items. | 92 |
| Hallucinations | |
| I heard noises or sounds when there was nothing about to explain them. | 63 |
| I saw shapes, lights or colours even though there was nothing really there. | 33 |
| I began to hear voices that were hard to explain. | 56 |
| Sounds were distorted in strange or unusual ways. | 30 |
| Any of these items. | 78 |
| Substance use | |
| I was smoking cannabis (or taking other drugs). | 18 |
| I was drinking quite a lot of alcohol. | 23 |
| Any of these items. | 32 |
| Stressors | |
| I was being bullied. | 44 |
| Someone close to me died. | 18 |
| I had left home. | 17 |
| My relationship had ended with my boyfriend/girlfriend. | 19 |
| There were lots of arguments occurring. | 31 |
| I left school or university or my job. | 23 |
| There were lots of stresses in my life. | 69 |
| Any of these items. | 83 |
| Absence of changes | |
| There was nothing unusual at all in the period before. | 7 |
| I was feeling perfectly fine. | 9 |
| Any of these items. | 13 |
