One of my main research interests is shared psychosis, yet I hardly see any research on it. I believe shared psychosis is more common than people think, that it may be on a continuum similar to the continuum theory of general psychosis. However, I have been told this would be too complex to conduct research on. One of my ideas was to utilize a population of individuals diagnosed with cluster A disorders, and ask them to bring in their closest friend. I would give them both a jumping to conclusions task.I would give the individual with a cluster A disorder an assessment to determine how severe their disorder is (or that could already be indicated on their diagnosis before they come in). My hypothesis is that, the more severe the cluster A individual's disorder is, their friend will score higher on the task compared to the other participants who are friends with an individual who has a less severe cluster A disorder. To those interested in shared psychosis, does this sound too complex to you? I strongly believe delusions are highly contagious among close, interpersonal relationships, therefore they can become "shared."
Not to comment on your research design, but to respond to the initial question; there is a lack of communication between practitioners and academic researchers, and Psychology is no exception. Do talk with those who work in Mental Health care, and you will gain very valuable insights to enrich your research.
Here is a discussion on the communication gap that I mentioned:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_do_you_increase_the_visibility_of_relevant_past_work_for_those_currently_writing_papers_and_journal_articles
Thank you for your insight. There are probably an overwhelming number of clinicians who do not report or conduct research on clients with shared psychosis.
It seems to me that the research question is a little too large for the research design. I don't think it's a fundamentally bad design, but I wonder how much you are able to control for one's history of psychosis versus contagious psychosis. Admittedly, this is not an area I'm widely familiar with, but also the use of a "friend" might prove to be problematic as individuals with more severe psychological needs, particularly personality disorders, might have associates performing worse on your task due to socialization effects or, even more so with cluster A diagnoses, might not have or want to involve others with research.
This seems like a great area that could be examined as part of a career focus, but maybe some lower hanging fruit would be looking at your initial assumption that it is more common than research suggests, and backing this up with some practice-based-evidenced by polling a wide sample of providers rather than patients.
"To those interested in shared psychosis, does this sound too complex to you?"
It is best to start with the simplest theory, as with the old proverb: Birds of a feather flock together.
Perhaps they share a cause... such as toxic overload such as mercury, nutrition deficiency, past or present trauma, hidden infection, parasite infestation, chemical poisoning, bad drug supply, food intolerance, financial or relational stress, loss or a genetic trait such as Pyroluria.
Yes it is very complex, way more so than those who believe in the myth of 'mental health diagnoses with no credence to causation cult' tend to give credit..
How about ritual madness- banding together to be "mad". Like drinking parties or raves. Is that shared psychosis?
Mary, I do believe those situations may reflect brief shared psychotic episodes. Now, I wonder if research on that belief would serve to define "substance-induced shared psychosis," such as "substance-induced psychosis" has already been brought to awareness.
(jk) Because the federal government would be reduced to a shell of its former self...
Check the child abuse literature. There have been some appalling cases of chronic abuse of whole sibships, where at least one parent has subtle psychosis.
The entire American culture is now a laboratory for the study of SHARED PSYCHOSIS. You don't need to conduct experiments. An entire society may be caught up in a FOLIE A MANY. I've written a lot on this topic.
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