Psychotic-Like Experiences and Psychological Distress

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of psychotic-like experiences and schizotypal features in the general nonclinical population may imply a connection with psychosis-related liability. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to examine the role of resilience in the relationship of hallucination and delusion–like experiences and schizotypal features to psychological distress in a nonclinical sample. DESIGN: The study sample ( n = 432 university students) was selected through a stratified cluster sampling procedure, and measures of hallucination proneness, delusion proneness, schizotypal personality, and psychological distress were administered. RESULTS: While all three indices of psychotic-like experiences correlated with one another, only hallucination proneness and schizotypal personality features correlated with psychological distress and only schizotypal traits correlated with resilience. Schizotypy was found to have an indirect effect on distress through resilience. CONCLUSIONS: Findings imply the possibility of two types of schizotypy, with high or low resilience. It appears that schizotypes with low resilience may be susceptible to adversity and mental disorders, while high resilience may be protective.