Delusions

A delusion is a pathological thinking disorder of a qualitative nature. We define it as a morbid and irrefutable conviction of the patient about some fact. The individual acts in accordance with his delusion at all times and cannot be disproved under any circumstances. For clarity, we divide delusions into three groups.

Macromanic delusions

• characterized by an overestimation of the individual's own personality and significance.

• Extrapotent - the individual is irrefutably convinced of his own abilities, strength and talents. An example would be the belief that they can read minds.
• Megalomaniacal, gigantic - the individual is morbidly convinced of his extraordinary importanc

• Religious delusion - the individual is convinced that he is the son of God, a specific angel, a prophet, the founder of a new direction of religion, etc.
• Delusion of origin – the individual is morbidly convinced of his noble origin. He may, for example, believe that he is a descendant of nobles, the son of the president...
• Reformer's delusion - the individual is convinced that he was destined to reform society.
• Delusion of invention - a morbid belief in the invention of some revolutionary thing, a perpetual motion machine, it is often nonsense and the sick person only bothers with applications to the patent office.

Micromanic delusions

• characterized by the patient's conviction of his insignificance, his suffering and his guilt.

• Delusion of self-accusation – the individual is convinced that he is to blame for various misfortunes, e.g. earthquakes, tornadoes in the USA, misfortunes in Japan, but also for the fact that his distant relative lost a limb at work, etc.
• Delusion of insufficiency - the patient is irrefutably convinced of his insignificance and therefore greatly underestimates himself.
• Hypochondriacal delusion - the patient thinks he is suffering from some very serious, often fatal disease. Cancer, AIDS ...
• Delusion of fear - the patient is afraid of disasters and misfortunes that can affect him, his family or even the whole world.

Paranoid delusions

• they are characterized by suspicion, relatability, fear of persecution.

• Delusion of persecution - the individual is irrefutably convinced that he is being watched, or that someone is harming him. Wife, neighbor, government, police, agents, etc., the sick person can react in two ways:

• Asthenic - he hides, makes helmets against rays, wallpaperes his home with tin foil to prevent enemies from reading his thoughts, etc.
• Stenicly - the patient actively defends himself, files lawsuits and complaints against supposed enemies, demands protection and tries to get justice through the law (verulation). Or he can directly physically attack and attack specific persons.

• Delusion of emulation (jealousy) – the patient is convinced that his partner is cheating on him, an important factor is that he shows an active effort to catch his partner cheating. The delusion is petrified by the smallest details, e.g. when the wife goes to the toilet at night, is too happy, or smiles too little, etc.
• Erotomaniac delusion – the patient is convinced that some, often significant, person loves him.

Links

Related Articles

• Hallucination

References

• ČEŠKOVÁ, Eva and Mojmír SVOBODA. Psychopathology and psychiatry: for psychologists and special educators. 2nd edition. Prague: Portal, 2012.  ISBN 978-80-262-0216-5 .