The role of magical thinking in hallucinations. Comparisons of clinical and non-clinical groups

Abstract

Background: Magical thinking consists of accepting the possibility that events that, according to the causal concepts of a culture, cannot have any causal relationship, but might somehow nevertheless have one. Magical thinking has been related to both obsessive–compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of magical thinking in hallucinations of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Methods: Four groups were recruited for this purpose from a clinical population (hallucinating schizophrenic patients, patients diagnosed with psychoses who had never hallucinated, obsessive–compulsive disorder patients and a clinical control group) and a non-clinical control group, who were given the Magical Ideation Scale. Results: The results show that magical ideation differentiates the group of schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations from the rest of the groups that participated in the design. Items related to “mind reading”, to the presence of auditory illusions in response to sound stimuli, and to the sense of sometimes being accompanied by an evil presence are the most closely related to the presence of auditory hallucinations. Conclusions: Magical thinking, understood as beliefs in non-consensual modes of causation, is closely linked to auditory hallucinations in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

• Hallucinations
• Obsessive–compulsive Disorder
• Schizophrenia

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This work was done in the framework of research project PSI2009-09453, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology; and by the Regional Government of Andalusia (Excellence Research Projects SEJ-7204). The third author wishes to acknowledge Grant UNOV-06-BECDOC-4.