Notes

• Delusions
o Types:
 Persecutory - most common - belief that one is going to be harmed, harassed, and so forth by an individual, organization, or other group.
 Referential – pretty common - belief that certain gestures, comments, environmental cues, and so forth are directed at oneself.
 Grandiose - when an individual believes that he or she has exceptional abilities, wealth, or fame
 érotomanie - when an individual believes falsely that another person is in love with him/her.
 Nihilistic - conviction that a major catastrophe will occur
 Somatic - preoccupations regarding health and organ function.
o Bizarre – b/c not understood by similar peers, and not from ordinary life exposure
 Delusions that express a loss of control over mind or body
• thought withdrawal - belief that one's thoughts have been "removed" by some outside force
• though insertion – belief that thoughts have been put into one's mind
• delusions of control – belief that one's body or actions are being acted on or manipulated by some outside force.
o The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity.