Psychotic Experiences Questionnaire. Part 2

BACKGROUND: On the basis of the concept of psychotic and psychotic-like experiences, delusions and auditory hallucinations presented in Part 1 of this article, the structure of the links between psychotic experiences and social anxiety and its components and psychological parameters is analyzed. A mediator model of the relationship between social anxiety and the phase of psychotic alienation — "experiencing external control" — is discussed. AIM: To investigate the parameters and stages of development of psychotic and psychotic-like experiences registered with the Psychotic Experiences Questionnaire in the context of analyzing the structure of relationships with psychological variables (social anxiety, metacognitive and cognitive phenomena). Тo construct a mediator model of the indirect effect of social anxiety components on the “experience of being controlled externally” mediated by thought suppression (“polar bear effect”). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample — 122 respondents, includes non-clinical and two clinical groups — with symptoms of the affective spectrum and with symptoms of the psychotic spectrum. The author's ‘Psychotic Experiences Questionnaire’ was used to assess the