Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T16:20:44.366Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Somatic Delusions in Schizophrenia and the Affective Psychoses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Iain McGilchrist  and
John Cutting
Iain McGilchrist*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal Hospital
John Cutting
Affiliation:
Portnalls Unit, Farnborough Hospital, Orpington, Kent
*
Dr I. McGilchrist, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BX. Fax: 0181 777 1668
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Delusions relating to the body, a ready source of information about the immediate experiences of psychotic patients, have not been systematically studied. We attempted an account of the phenomena, looking for differences between diagnostic groupings in the type and lateralisation of such phenomena, and for evidence of localisation.

Method

Somatic delusions elicited at interview with 550 Research Diagnostic Criteria-diagnosed psychotic patients were categorised according to content, and the results were compared across diagnostic groupings.

Results

Significant differences were demonstrated, both at the level of individual delusions and in the nature and overall pattern of such delusions. There were also differences between diagnostic groups in the choice of body parts involved. Among male patients there were significant differences in laterality between the groups, with schizophrenic subjects locating abnormal phenomena principally on the left and depressive subjects on the right. A provisional taxonomy of bodily delusions was developed.

Conclusion

Phenomenological differences between the psychoses were demonstrated and the results offer some support for current hypotheses of localisation of brain dysfunction in the psychotic illnesses.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 350 - 361
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 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

Angyal, A. (1936) The experience of the body-self in schizophrenia. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 35, 1029–1053.10.1001/archneurpsyc.1936.02260050103007Google Scholar
Chapman, L. J., Chapman, J.P. & Raulin, M. L. (1978) Body-image aberration in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychology, 87, 399–407.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1989a) Body image disorders in neuropsychiatry. In The Bridge Between Neurology and Psychiatry (eds E. H. Reynolds & M. R. Trimble), pp. 106–117. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. (1989b) Body-image disorders: comparison between unilateral hemisphere damage and schizophrenia. Behavioural Neurology, 2, 201–210.10.1155/1989/717519Google Scholar
Frederiks, J. A. M. (1963) Macrosomatognosia and microsomatognosia. Psychiatria, Neurologia, Neurochirurgia, 66, 531–536.Google Scholar
George, L. & Neufeld, R. W. (1985) Cognition and symptomatology in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 11, 264–285.10.1093/schbul/11.2.264Google Scholar
Gittleson, N. L. & Levine, S. (1966) Subjective ideas of sexual change in male schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 112, 779–782.10.1192/bjp.112.489.779Google Scholar
Lukianowicz, N. (1967) Body image disturbances in psychiatric disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 31–47.10.1192/bjp.113.494.31Google Scholar
Mintz, S. & Alpert, M. (1972) Imagery vividness, reality testing, and schizophrenic hallucinations. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 79, 310–316.10.1037/h0033209Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria. New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Biometrics Research, New York.Google Scholar
SPSS (1992) SPSS for Windows Release 5.0, SPSS, Inc, 1989–1992.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. & Fleming, J. J. (1981) The lateralisation of symptoms in schizophrenia. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 54, 59–65.10.1111/j.2044-8341.1981.tb01470.xGoogle Scholar
Toone, B. K., Wheeler, M. & Fenwick, P. B. C. (1982) Effects of anticonvulsant drugs on male sex hormones and sexual arousal. In Psychopharmacology of Anticonvulsants (ed. Sandler, M.), pp. 136–142. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Trimble, M. R. (1988) Body image and temporal lobes. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153 (suppl. 2), 12–14.10.1192/S0007125000298917Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.