The influence of social phobia in first episode of psychosis and attentional processing and the ability to use theory of mind

Chapter One: Literature Review
This chapter reviews the research surrounding the prevalence of comorbid social phobia
in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. It then critically evaluates the eight studies that
have specifically explored the relationships, if any, between social phobia and psychotic
symptoms. The review surmises that the research findings are inconsistent, which seem
to be attributable to methodological differences between all the studies in terms of
participant selection, chronicity of psychotic symptoms and lack of consistent measures.
Chapter Two: Research Report
This study investigates attentional processing, the influence of social phobia and the
ability to use Theory of Mind (ToM: the ability to infer other people's mental states and
behaviour) in people diagnosed with their first episode of psychosis, when compared to
healthy matched controls. The results showed that the first episode group attended
towards negative evaluation, somatic sensations, physical threat, but not social situation
word groups. Social phobia was highly prevalent in the first episode of psychosis cohort
(37%) and this anxiety disorder was unrelated to psychotic symptoms. ToM processing
was impaired in the first episode group. ToM was not related to social phobia symptoms,
but was related to social functioning.
Chapter Three: Critical Appraisal
This section presents an overview of the experiences and personal reflections of the work
that constitutes this thesis and includes the main personal learning points.