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From Nordan Symposia
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==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Late Latin delusion-, delusio, from deludere
*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_Century 15th century]
==Definitions==
*1 : the [[act]] of deluding : the [[state]] of being deluded
*2 a : something that is [[false]]ly or delusively [[believed]] or propagated
:b : a [[persistent]] [[false]] psychotic [[belief]] regarding the [[self]] or [[persons]] or objects outside the self that is [[maintained]] despite indisputable [[evidence]] to the contrary; also : the [[abnormal]] [[state]] marked by such [[beliefs]]
==Description==
A '''delusion''', in everyday [[language]], is a fixed [[belief]] that is either [[false]], fanciful, or derived from [[deception]]. Psychiatry defines the term more specifically as a [[belief]] that is pathological (the result of an illness or illness [[process]]). As a pathology, it is distinct from a [[belief]] based on false or incomplete [[information]], [[dogma]], stupidity, apperception, [[illusion]], or other effects of [[perception]].
Delusions typically occur in the [[context]] of neurological or [[mental]] [[Disease|illness]], although they are not tied to any particular [[disease]] and have been found to occur in the [[context]] of many pathological [[states]] (both [[physical]] and [[mental]]). However, they are of particular [[diagnostic]] importance in psychotic disorders and particularly in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia schizophrenia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphrenia paraphrenia], manic episodes of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder bipolar disorder], and psychotic [[depression]].
Although non-specific [[concepts]] of madness have been around for several thousand years, the psychiatrist and [[philosopher]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers Karl Jaspers] was the first to define the three main criteria for a [[belief]] to be considered delusional in his 1917 book ''General Psychopathology''. These criteria are:
* [[certainty]] (held with [[absolute]] [[conviction]])
* incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or [[proof]] to the contrary)
* impossibility or falsity of [[content]] (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)
These criteria still continue in modern psychiatric [[diagnosis]]. The most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines a delusion as:
<blockquote>A [[false]] [[belief]] based on incorrect [[inference]] about external [[reality]] that is firmly [[sustained]] despite what almost everybody else believes and despite what [[constitutes]] incontrovertible and obvious [[proof]] or [[evidence]] to the contrary. The [[belief]] is not one ordinarily [[accepted]] by other members of the [[person]]'s [[culture]] or subculture.</blockquote>
There is [[controversy]] over this definition, as 'despite what almost everybody else believes' implies that a [[person]] who believes something most others do not is a [[candidate]] for delusional [[thought]]. Furthermore, it is [[ironic]] that, while the above three criteria are usually attributed to Jaspers, he himself described them as only 'vague' and merely 'external'. He also wrote that, since the genuine or 'internal' 'criteria for delusion proper lie in the primary [[experience]] of delusion and in the [[change]] of the [[personality]] [and not in the above three loosely descriptive criteria], we can see that a delusion may be correct in [[content]] without ceasing to be a delusion, for instance - that there is a world-war.'
[[Category: Psychology]]
==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from Late Latin delusion-, delusio, from deludere
*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_Century 15th century]
==Definitions==
*1 : the [[act]] of deluding : the [[state]] of being deluded
*2 a : something that is [[false]]ly or delusively [[believed]] or propagated
:b : a [[persistent]] [[false]] psychotic [[belief]] regarding the [[self]] or [[persons]] or objects outside the self that is [[maintained]] despite indisputable [[evidence]] to the contrary; also : the [[abnormal]] [[state]] marked by such [[beliefs]]
==Description==
A '''delusion''', in everyday [[language]], is a fixed [[belief]] that is either [[false]], fanciful, or derived from [[deception]]. Psychiatry defines the term more specifically as a [[belief]] that is pathological (the result of an illness or illness [[process]]). As a pathology, it is distinct from a [[belief]] based on false or incomplete [[information]], [[dogma]], stupidity, apperception, [[illusion]], or other effects of [[perception]].
Delusions typically occur in the [[context]] of neurological or [[mental]] [[Disease|illness]], although they are not tied to any particular [[disease]] and have been found to occur in the [[context]] of many pathological [[states]] (both [[physical]] and [[mental]]). However, they are of particular [[diagnostic]] importance in psychotic disorders and particularly in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia schizophrenia], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphrenia paraphrenia], manic episodes of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder bipolar disorder], and psychotic [[depression]].
Although non-specific [[concepts]] of madness have been around for several thousand years, the psychiatrist and [[philosopher]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers Karl Jaspers] was the first to define the three main criteria for a [[belief]] to be considered delusional in his 1917 book ''General Psychopathology''. These criteria are:
* [[certainty]] (held with [[absolute]] [[conviction]])
* incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or [[proof]] to the contrary)
* impossibility or falsity of [[content]] (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)
These criteria still continue in modern psychiatric [[diagnosis]]. The most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines a delusion as:
<blockquote>A [[false]] [[belief]] based on incorrect [[inference]] about external [[reality]] that is firmly [[sustained]] despite what almost everybody else believes and despite what [[constitutes]] incontrovertible and obvious [[proof]] or [[evidence]] to the contrary. The [[belief]] is not one ordinarily [[accepted]] by other members of the [[person]]'s [[culture]] or subculture.</blockquote>
There is [[controversy]] over this definition, as 'despite what almost everybody else believes' implies that a [[person]] who believes something most others do not is a [[candidate]] for delusional [[thought]]. Furthermore, it is [[ironic]] that, while the above three criteria are usually attributed to Jaspers, he himself described them as only 'vague' and merely 'external'. He also wrote that, since the genuine or 'internal' 'criteria for delusion proper lie in the primary [[experience]] of delusion and in the [[change]] of the [[personality]] [and not in the above three loosely descriptive criteria], we can see that a delusion may be correct in [[content]] without ceasing to be a delusion, for instance - that there is a world-war.'
[[Category: Psychology]]
