The British journal of clinical psychology / the British Psychological Society
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The present study investigated covert and overt attributional styles in individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis. It was hypothesized that those individuals experiencing paranoia, as operationalized by higher scores on the suspiciousness item of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) would perform differently on both covert and overt measures of attributional style when compared to those individuals who scored lower on the BPRS suspiciousness item. ⋯ The findings suggest that increasing suspiciousness does predict attributional style in the early stages of psychosis, although the relationship appears weaker than in reports with more chronic psychotic patient samples. Longitudinal research is needed to ascertain whether attributional style is a stable characteristic in psychosis, or whether it fluctuates between periods of remission and active psychosis.