What are the main types of delusions

Delusions usually occur in the context of a mental or neurological illness. However, they are of particular importance in the diagnosis of psychotic disorders. Psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers was the first to define three main criteria for delusions in his book General psychopathology in 1913.

These criteria are: being sure of this belief held with absolute conviction, that the belief cannot be changed by convincing contrary arguments and the falsity or impossibility of believing in the content. As we see, applying the concept of falsehood (or truthfulness) to a belief entails important problems.

On the other hand, Two types of delusions have mainly been distinguished: based on form and content. Below we explain each of them.

Types of delusions: classification according to their form

From a formal point of view, There are two types of delusions: primary or true delusions and secondary delusions.

The primary delirium or delusional ideas are characterized by being autonomous, original, underivable and incomprehensible from a psychological point of view. It appears suddenly, with complete conviction and without any other mental alteration that has led to its appearance.

The secondary delirium or delirious ideas arise from a previous abnormal experience. It is a delusional idea that arises as an attempt to explain previous anomalous experiences and, in this sense, they are psychologically understandable.

That is to say, The distinction between delusional and deliroid lies in the comprehensibility or not of the delusion. This difference also implies an attempt to explain their respective origins. Saying that secondary delusions are psychologically understandable means that they occur as a result of the patient’s attempt to explain an abnormal experience.

Jaspers proposes 4 types of primary delusions

delusional intuition: primary delusional idea, phenomenologically indistinguishable from any idea that suddenly assails us. The content of these delusions is usually self-referential and is usually of great importance to the patient.Delusional perception: primary delusional idea that consists of delusional interpretation of normal perception.Delirious atmosphere: primary delusional idea that consists of subjective experience that the world has changed in a subtle way but sinister, disturbing and difficult or impossible to define. It is usually accompanied by an altered state of mood, since the patient feels uncomfortable, restless and even perplexed.Delusional memory: primary delusional idea that consists of delirious reconstruction of a real memory or that suddenly the patient “remembers” something that is clearly delusional.

Types of delusions: classification according to their content

Psychoanalytic theories have emphasized the symbolic importance of the content of delusions.. There are also authors who suggest that the content of delusions is especially related to personal fears, aspects of life experiences and cultural factors.

However, There are those who claim that delusions are empty speech acts. Berrios affirms that its content is nothing more than a random fragment of information trapped at the moment in which the delirium crystallizes.

Despite this opinion, delusions have been studied primarily from the perspective of judgment and beliefs. And from this prism, content has a clear importance as a carrier of personal and cultural influences.

While the structure of delusions varies very little in different cultures, their content seems to be much more influenced by the cultural framework in which the delusional subject lives. One of the aspects that has been most worked on on the topic of delusions is their classification.

Most common contents in delusions

Delusional idea of ​​jealousy: delusional conviction that the sexual partner is unfaithful. The beginning is sudden and brutal, the proof of the spouse’s infidelity will depend on a gesture or a word. The subject will look for irrefutable evidence (search for belongings, endless interrogations, etc.).Delusional idea of ​​greatness: Its content implies a exaggerated appreciation of the importance, power, knowledge or personal identity. It may be of a religious, corporal or other nature.Delusional idea of ​​poverty: idea that the subject has lost or will lose all or almost all of his or her material possessions.Extravagant delusional idea: false belief whose content is clearly absurd and has no possible real basis. Ex: a man believes that when he had appendicitis surgery, they placed a device and he can hear the president’s voice.Nihilistic delusional idea: idea around the non-existence of the self, of others and of the world. Ex: the world has ended.

Contents of the most frequent delusions

Delusional idea of ​​being controlled: delusional idea in which feelings, impulses, thoughts or actions are experienced as if they were not one’s own and were imposed by some external force. Typical delusions are thought misalignment, thought theft, or thought transmission.Erotomanic delusional idea: the patient believes that some other person is madly in love with him. It affects women more often than men. Often the person is convinced of being loved by a person considered prestigious (movie star, politician, etc.).Somatic delusional idea: The person has the conviction of having a physical imperfection or a general medical condition. It can be difficult to distinguish this type of delusional disorder from hypochondria and body dysmorphic disorder. What distinguishes them is the intensity of the belief. In delusional disorder, the person cannot admit the possibility that the illness or physical defect is not present.Reference delusion: delusional idea consisting of events or people close to the subject’s environment having a particular meaning, usually of a negative nature. If the delusional idea of ​​reference is articulated in a persecutory theme, then one can also speak of delusion of persecution.You might be interested…