Background. Previous psychosocial stress research, contemporary cognitive models, and new cognitive behavioural treatments for psychosis converge in suggesting that stressful events influence the content of psychotic experiences. In this paper we test whether the attributes of stressful events preceding the initial onset of psychosis are associated with core themes of the illness.

Method. Forty-one people who had experienced a first episode of psychosis were assessed on the attributes of stressful events occurring in the year before onset, the themes (persecutory, depressive, and grandiose) associated with their delusions and the content of their auditory hallucinations.

Results. Principal component analysis yielded four components accounting for 72% of the variance. As hypothesized, intrusive events were associated with the development of delusions with persecutory themes. Grandiose delusions were negatively associated with loss events. Depressive delusions appear to be associated with danger events rather than loss events.

Conclusion. There are links between stressful event attributes and core psychotic themes at first-episode psychosis. This has implications for theoretical models of, and early psychological intervention for, psychosis.