Turning the curse into a blessing: using mindfulness to reduce suspiciousness and paranoia in individuals with personality characteristics and experiences related to psychosis

INTERVENTION: The study will implement a 40‐day mindfulness‐based online intervention. This will consist of guided mindfulness meditations to be completed by participants at home (10 minutes per day for 40 days), delivered via the online mindfulness app 'Headspace'. The active control condition will consist of 40 days of reflective journaling. Participants will complete 10 minutes of journaling per day via a free online journaling app. Participants will be asked to reflect on and journal about their daily activities each day. Participants will be randomised into the intervention or control group using a random, computer‐generated number sequence. CONDITION: High positive schizotypy and suspiciousness/paranoia in the general population. ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: ; The primary outcome measures will be suspiciousness/paranoia, assessed via self‐report scales and an objective measure:; 1.1 Fenigstein & Vanable’s Paranoia Scale (FVPS).; 1.2 Green et al Paranoid Thoughts Scale (GTPS); 1.3 The objective measure of paranoia will be a previously validated inter‐personal Virtual Reality (VR) environment:; ; Participants will be asked to spend 5 minutes in an virtual reality everyday social environment (a pub). Participants will then complete the State Social Paranoia Scale following their exposure to the VR environment, and visual analogue scales (relating to how participants felt during their time in the virtual reality environment (e.g., how safe they felt in the VR environment); ; All primary outcome measures will be administered at baseline (pre‐intervention) and within 1 week following completion of the 40‐day trial. The FVPS will also be administered after completion of the initial 10 days of the trial.; SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; 1. Anxiety, depression and stress as measured by the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS); 2. Worry, as assessed by the penn state worry questionnaire‐past‐week (PSWQ‐PW); 3. Interpersonal sensitivity assessed by the interpersonal sensitivity measure (IPSM); 4. Compassion measured via the self‐compassion scale short‐form (SCS‐SF). Visual analogue scales relating to how compassionate participants felt towards themselves and others within the virtual reality environment will also be used.; 5. Mindfulness skill as measured by the five facet mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ).; 6. Schizotypal symptom‐like experiences as measured by the schizotypal personality questionnaire; 7. Subjective experience of creativity as measured by the experience of creativity questionnaire; 8. Sensory information processing, indexed by acoustic startle response.; ; All above secondary measures will be administered at baseline and within 1 week following the completion of the 40‐day trial. The DASS, PSWQ‐PW, IPSM, SCS‐SF and FFMQ will also be administered after the initial 10 days of the trial.; ; 9. Subjective experience related to the MBI (e.g., ease of use, practicality, enjoyment, potential changes in experience of interpersonal interactions) will be assessed using semi‐structured interviews, which will take place at the post‐trial assessment visit (within 1 week following completion of the 40‐day trial).; 10. Engagement with daily homework activity will be tracked via the apps.; 11. Retention will be tracked throughout the trial and feedback surveys will be given to participants who choose to discontinue involvement in the trial.; INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Scored high (at least +0.5 SD) on i) positive schizotypy and ii) scored high (at least +0.7 SD) on the suspiciousness/paranoia subscale of positive schizotypy, as measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (administered via an online pre‐screening survey). 2. Aged between 18‐65. 3. Must be based in an area where they can attend the lab sessions (London, UK). 4. Have access to a smart device (phone or tablet) with access to the internet.