Delusions

BACKGROUND DSM-5 defines delusions as “…fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in the light of conflicting evidence.” (p 87). The manual lists six kinds of delusions: persecutory; referential; grandiose; erotomanic; nihilistic; and somatic. The APA provides another definition of delusions on p 819. It’s substantially the same as the one above, but offers the additional varieties: bizarre; delusional jealousy; mixed type; mood-congruent; mood-incongruent; of being controlled; thought broadcasting; and thought insertion. Interestingly, nihilistic delusions are omitted from the second list. These, we are told on page 87, “…involve the conviction that a major catastrophe will occur.” ...

BACKGROUND There has been some discussion in recent weeks concerning the role of childhood abuse in the etiology of the condition known as schizophrenia. It is particularly difficult to address this problem because the condition known as schizophrenia is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it is an assortment of loosely clustered behaviors which has been falsely and illogically labeled by the APA as an illness, existing in an individual. So the question “Is schizophrenia caused by childhood abuse?” is a meaningless question. In other words, it cannot be answered either as “true” or “false.” In fact, it can’t even be answered “maybe.” ...