A possible role for Progressive Muscle Relaxation in the treatment of persecutory ideation

SummaryPersecutory ideation is one of the most commonly reported psychiatric symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia and is associated with significant patient distress and impairment. Therefore, much attention has recently been devoted to theoretical explanations of persecutory ideation that can help inform and guide patient care. A cognitive model of persecutory ideation suggests that individuals with psychosis who experience anxiety along with other stressors are at increased risk for developing intense “threat” or persecutory beliefs. Correlational studies have found evidence for this proposed link between anxiety levels and the persistence, distress levels, and degree of conviction associated with persecutory ideation. Importantly, recent research has found support for a possible prospective/causal role for anxiety in the generation and maintenance of paranoid beliefs. Existing interventions for persecutory ideation consist of pharmacological treatments that have variable efficacy and often entail serious side-effects, and cognitive behavioral treatments (CBT) that target persecutory thoughts, but are often unavailable, require high level of clinician expertise, and may be difficult to conduct with patients who are cognitively impaired or apprehensive about openly exploring their paranoid beliefs. Given the empirical support for a prospective relationship between anxiety and persecutory ideation, it is reasonable to predict that clinicians could impact persecutory ideations indirectly by making good use of existing evidence-based interventions for anxiety. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is an effective method for reducing physiological arousal and treating various anxiety disorders, and has been shown to be feasible with patients with psychosis. We offer that exportability and ease of use makes PMR a promising intervention for mental health practitioners to target anxiety precipitating persecutory ideation. We hypothesize that PMR could be used to help ameliorate anxiety in patients who are at risk or already experiencing persecutory ideation, subsequently reducing the frequency, level of conviction, and distress associated with persecutory thoughts. Our hypothesis could be tested through feasibility and randomized control trials of PMR for treatment of persecutory ideation in individuals with schizophrenia. We expect the relationship between PMR and persecutory ideation will be mediated by reduction in anxiety. Potential advantages of examining our hypothesis include identifying a viable, efficacious, cost-effective novel intervention for paranoia in patients with psychosis. In addition, PMR could be easily facilitated by practitioners with varying levels of training and integrated with other existing interventions for persecutory ideation.