Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:17:54.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Origins of Delusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Glenn Roberts
Glenn Roberts*
Affiliation:
North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple, North Devon EX31 4JB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although delusion remains one of the basic problems in psychopathology, attempts to understand its pathogenesis have been dominated by unsubstantiated speculation. Previous psychodynamic formulations have recently given way to increasing interest in measurement, and testing of models derived from cognitive psychology. However, the formation, elaboration, and persistence of delusional beliefs may be an expression of the convergence of numerous causal influences, each exerting an effect at a different stage in the evolution of the belief. This review takes a structured overview of the literature, placing the numerous part theories and scant experimental findings within a general model of delusional development. It argues for a return to systematic research on symptoms rather than complex diagnostic formulations to facilitate better understanding of the development of delusional disorders and stimulate further interest in therapeutic intervention.

Type
Review Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 298 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arieti, S. (1964) Interpretation of Schizophrenia. London: Crosby Loanword Staples.Google Scholar
Arthur, A. Z. (1964) Theories and explanations of delusions: a review. American Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 105–115.Google Scholar
Bateson, G. (1973) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. St Albans: Paladin.Google Scholar
Bentall, R. P. & Kany, S. (1989) Content-specific information processing and persecutory delusions: an investigation using the emotional Stroop test. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 62, 355–364.Google Scholar
Berner, P., Gabriel, E., Kieffer, W., et al (1986) Paranoid psychosis: new aspects of classification and prognosis coming from the Vienna Research Group. Psychopathology, 19, 16–29.Google Scholar
Birley, J. L. T. (1990) DSM–III: from left to right or from right to left? British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 116–118.Google Scholar
Bishay, N. R., Peterson, N. & Tarrier, N. (1989) An uncontrolled study of cognitive therapy for morbid jealousy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 386–389.Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1950) Dementia Praecox or the Group of Schizophrenias (trans. Deuticke, F.). New York: International Universities Press (originally published 1911).Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1951) Autistic thinking. In Organisation and Pathology of Thought (ed. Rapaport, D.), pp. 399–423. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Brett-Jones, J., Garety, P. & Hemsley, D. (1987) Measuring delusional experiences: a method and its application. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 26, 257–265.Google Scholar
Bullard, D. M. (1960) Psychotherapy of paranoid patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2, 137–141.Google Scholar
Cameron, N. (1959) The paranoid pseudo-community revisited. American Journal of Sociology, 65, 52–58.Google Scholar
Chadwick, P. D. J. & Lowe, C. F. (1990) Measurement and modification of delusional beliefs. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58(2), 225–232.Google Scholar
Cummings, J. L. (1985) Organic delusions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 184–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, J. L. (1986) Organic psychoses, delusional disorder and secondary mania. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 9, 293–311.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1985) The Psychology of Schizophrenia. London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1989) Gestalt theory and psychiatry: a discussion paper. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 82, 429–431.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. & Dunne, F. (1986) The nature of abnormal perceptual experiences at the onset of schizophrenia. Psychopathology, 19, 347–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
David, A. S. (1990) Insight and psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 798–808.Google Scholar
Day, M. & Manschreck, T. C. (1988) Delusional (paranoid) disorders. In The New Harvard Guide to Psychiatry (ed. Nicholi, A. M. Jr.), pp. 296–308. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Federn, P. (1953) Ego Psychology and Psychosis. Reprinted 1977, London: Maresfield Reprints.Google Scholar
Forgus, R. H. & De Wolfe, A. S. (1974) Coding of cognitive input in delusional patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83, 278–284.Google Scholar
Foxx, R. M., McMorrow, M. J., Davis, L. A., et al (1988) Replacing a chronic schizophrenic man's delusional speech with stimulus-appropriate responses. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 19, 43–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, T. (1981) On the psychopathology of persecutory delusions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 529–532.Google Scholar
Freeman, T. (1988) The Psychoanalyst in Psychiatry. London: Karnac Books.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1939) Constructions in analysis. In Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (trans. and ed. Strachey, J.), vol. 23, pp. 255–269. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1958) Notes on a case of paranoia. In Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (trans. and ed. Strachey, J.), vol. 12, pp. 59–79. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Garety, P. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1987) Characteristics of delusional experience. Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 236, 294–298.Google Scholar
Hemsley, D. R. & Garety, P. A. (1986) The formation of delusions: a Bayesian analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hole, R. W., Rush, A. J. & Beck, A. T. (1979) A cognitive investigation of schizophrenic delusions. Psychiatry, 42, 312–319.Google Scholar
Huq, S. F., Garety, P. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1988) Probabilistic judgements in deluded and non-deluded subjects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40A, 801–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaspers, K. (1963) General Psychopathology (trans. Hoenig, J. & Hamilton, M. W.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Jenner, F. A., Monteriro, A. C. & Vlissides, D. (1986) The negative effect on psychiatry of Karl Jaspers' development of Verstehen . Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 17, 52–71.Google Scholar
Johnson, W. G., Ross, J. M. & Mastra, M. A. (1977) Delusional behavior: an attribution analysis of development and modification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1977, 86, 421–426.Google Scholar
Kaffman, M. (1984) Paranoid disorders: the core of truth behind the delusional system. International Journal of Family Therapy, 6, 220–232.Google Scholar
Kany, S. & Bentall, R. P. (1989) Persecutory delusions and attributional style. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 62, 191–198.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E. (1971) Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia (trans. Barclay, R. M.). Huntingdon: NY: Krieger (originally published 1919).Google Scholar
Lansky, M. R. (1977) Schizophrenic delusional phenomena. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 18, 157–168.Google Scholar
Lester, D. (1975) The relationship between paranoid delusions and homosexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 4, 285–294.Google Scholar
Maher, B. A. (1974) Delusional thinking and perceptual disorder. Journal of Individual Psychology, 30, 98–113.Google Scholar
Maher, B. A. & Ross, J. S. (1984) Delusions. In Comprehensive Handbook of Psychopathology (eds Adams, H. & Sutker, P.), pp. 383–409. New York and London: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Marks, I. & Mishan, J. (1988) Dismorphophobic avoidance with disturbed bodily perception. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 674–678.Google Scholar
Melges, F. T. & Freeman, A. M. (1975) Persecutory delusions: a cybernetic model. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 1038–1044.Google Scholar
Monro, A. (1988) Delusional (paranoid) disorders. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 33, 399–404.Google Scholar
Murphy, H. B. M. (1983) Sociocultural variations in symptomatology, incidence and course of illness. In Handbook of Psychiatry (eds Shepherd, M. & Zangwill, O.), vol. 1, chapter 5. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Norman, C. (1899) Systematised delusional insanity (paranoia). In System of Medicine (ed. Allbutt, T. C.), pp. 995–1007. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Persons, J. B. (1986) The advantages of studying psychological phenomena rather than psychiatric diagnoses. American Psychologist, 41, 1252–1260.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1983) Irrational thinking with special reference to cognitive therapy. Advances in Behavioral Research and Therapy, 5, 63–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, G. A. (1991) Delusional belief and meaning in life: a preferred reality? British Journal of Psychiatry, 159 (suppl. 14): 20–29.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. E., Edwards, J. G., Checkley, S., et al (1986) A case of resistant schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 789–793.Google Scholar
Roth, S. (1970) The seemingly ubiquitous depression following acute schizophrenic episodes: a neglected area of clinical discussion. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 91–98.Google Scholar
Rothstein, A. (1980) Psychoanalytical paradigms and their narcissistic investment. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 28, 385–395.Google Scholar
Salzinger, K. (1975) Behavior theory models of abnormal behavior. In Experimental Approaches to Psychopathology (eds Kietzman, M., Sutton, S. & Zubin, J.), pp. 213–244. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Scharffeter, C. (1980) General Psychopathology (trans. Marshall, H.). London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schilder, P. (1951) On the development of thoughts. In Organisation and Pathology of Thought (ed. Rapaport, D.), pp. 497–517. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, G. (1987) A review of the German literature on delusion between 1914 and 1939. In The Clinical Roots of the Schizophrenia Concept (eds Cutting, J. and Shepherd, M.), pp. 105–134. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Searles, H. F. (1962) The differentiation between concrete and metaphorical thinking in the recovering schizophrenic patient. Journal of the American Psychoanalytical Association, 10, 22–49.Google Scholar
Sims, A. (1988) Symptoms in the Mind – an Introduction to Descriptive Psychopathology. London: Baillière Tindall.Google Scholar
Strauss, J. S. (1969) Hallucinations and delusions as points on continua function. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 581–586.Google Scholar
Sullivan, H. S. (1956) Clinical Studies in Psychiatry. In The Clinical Works of Harry Stack Sullivan (eds Perry, H. S., Gower, M. L. & Gibbon, M.), vol. 2. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Tsuang, M. T., Faraone, S. V. & Day, M. (1988) Schizophrenic disorders. In The New Harvard Guide to Psychiatry (ed. Nicholi, A. Jr.), pp. 259–298. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Watts, F. N., Powell, E. G. & Austin, S. V. (1973) The modification of abnormal beliefs. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 46, 359–363.Google Scholar
Weinstein, E. A. (1962) Cultural Aspects of Delusions. A Psychiatric Study of the Virgin Islands. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, Inc.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. & Brown, G. W. (1970) Institutionalism and Schizophrenia. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winters, K. C. & Neale, J. M. (1983) Delusions and delusional thinking in psychotics: a review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 3, 227–253.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.