Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Delusions”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Temporal lobe asymmetry in patients with Alzheimer's disease with delusions.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that delusions are associated with asymmetric involvement of the temporal lobe regions in Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: Temporal lobe atrophy was assessed with a linear measure of width of the temporal horn (WTH) taken from CT films. Temporal asymmetry was computed as the right/left (R/L) ratio of the WTH in 22 non-delusional and 19 delusional patients with Alzheimer's disease. Delusional patients had paranoid delusions (of theft, jealousy, persecution). None of the patients had misidentifications or other delusions of non-paranoid content. RESULTS: The R/L ratio indicated symmetric temporal horn size in the non-delusional (mean 1. 05 (SD 0.20), and right greater than left temporal horn in the delusional patients (mean 1.30, (SD 0.46); t=2.27, df=39, p=0.03). When patients were stratified into three groups according to the R/L ratio, 47% of the delusional (9/19) and 14% of the non-delusional patients (3/21; chi(2)=5.6, df=1, p=0.02) showed right markedly greater than left WTH. CONCLUSIONS: Predominantly right involvement of the medial temporal lobe might be a determinant of paranoid delusions in the mild stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Prospective study of hallucinations and delusions in Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of hallucinations and delusions in Parkinson's disease, to describe such symptoms phenomenologically, and possibly to determine factors associated with their development. In addition, the role of the visual system in relation to visual hallucinations was examined. METHOD: 102 consecutive patients diagnosed with strictly defined Parkinson's disease were examined for the presence of hallucinations and delusions and assessed for visual acuity, cognition, depression using the geriatric depression scale, disease severity as measured by the UPDRS, and other clinical variables. RESULTS: Of 102 consecutive patients, 29.4% (n=30) had hallucinations or delusions, four (3.9%) were determined to be psychotic due solely to delirium and were excluded from further analysis. Of the 98 remaining patients, 26.5% (n=26) had visual hallucinations. Among these, one patient also had delusions, two had auditory hallucinations, and one had gustatory hallucinations. Visual hallucinations were significantly associated with worse visual acuity, lower cognitive score, higher depression score, and worse disease severity. Hallucinations were not associated with history of psychiatric disease, dose or duration of levodopa or other antiparkinsonian medication treatment, or duration of illness. CONCLUSIONS: Visual hallucinations are common symptoms in Parkinson's disease and are most likely of multifactorial origin. Although higher doses of levodopa are known to be related clinically to hallucinations in individual patients, the results suggest that several underlying characteristics of patients with Parkinson's disease (disease severity, dementia, depression, worse visual acuity) may be more important determinants of which patients experience hallucinations. The data also provide preliminary evidence that abnormality of the visual system may be related to visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease, as has been found in other disorders with visual hallucinations.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Recurrent delusions of pregnancy in a male.

Delusions of pregnancy in men have been reported rather infrequently. This case report is of a male schizophrenic patient who developed a delusion of pregnancy on two successive occasions each time when his wife became pregnant. The authors view briefly various aetiological hypotheses of delusions of pregnancy and whether the couvade phenomenon had any role in the origin of this delusion.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Obsessive-compulsive disorder with delusions.

Obsessive-compulsive (OCD) and delusional disorders (DD) have been recognised with increased frequency in recent years, and the propensity of some OCD subjects to become deluded has become a focus of interest. This study reports illness-specific demography along with measures of symptom severity and tests to assess schizotypal ideation, dysfunctional attitudes, attributional and attention bias in 30 patients with OCD, 29 with DD, 16 with OCD with delusions (OC-DD) and a 30-subject control group (CG). Obsessional features appeared before delusions in the OC-DD group, suggesting that OCD was the primary pathology. Delusions were more likely in subjects obsessional about one rather than multiple themes. There was some support for proposals that depression and schizotypy may bring out delusions in OCD and some evidence for the utility of categorising OCD according to the number of obsessions a subject has.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Coexistence of delusions of pregnancy and infestation in a male.

The coexistent appearance of delusions of pregnancy and infestation is reported in a male patient with posttraumatic epilepsy. While published organic cases of delusions of pregnancy have involved patients with severe or mild mental retardation, our reported patient had a higher than average IQ. The interpretative role of these delusions in a probable perceptual symptomatology cannot be excluded, as both delusions can be based on sensations in the abdomen or on the skin.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Attentional and memory bias in persecutory delusions and depression.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has indicated that persecutory delusions and depression may share similar cognitive biases at implicit levels of processing, but differentiate at explicit levels, supporting the theory that paranoia may have a protective function against underlying negative schemata. The study aimed to investigate attentional bias and both implicit and explicit memory biases for personally salient and standardised emotional stimuli in persecutory delusions and depression. SAMPLING: 36 participants, with 12 in each group, were interviewed in order to generate personally salient stimuli to be employed within the cognitive tests. Standardised emotional stimuli were additionally employed as a control. Participants completed two probe detection tasks, one including personally salient stimuli and one including standard emotional stimuli. Memory for the stimuli presented in this task was assessed by a free recall task (explicit memory) followed by a word completion task (implicit memory). RESULTS: On an implicit memory task, both the deluded and depressed groups displayed comparable retrieval of positive and negative words. However, on the explicit memory task, the depressed group demonstrated a bias for negative stimuli, whereas the deluded group demonstrated a bias for positive stimuli. The groups did not demonstrate an attentional bias for personally salient information. However, an attentional bias for standardised emotional stimuli was found in the depressed group, although this was not specific to either negative or positive stimuli. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that depression and persecutory delusions may share similar patterns of processing at an implicit level but differentiate at the explicit level, which may be indicative of cognitive avoidance of threatening stimuli in psychosis. However, this does not seem to be a feature of automatic attentional processes in people with persecutory delusions. Implications for further research are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Cultural influences on delusion.

The nature and content of delusions were studied among 51 schizophrenic patients. The most common delusions in order of frequency were delusions of persecution, religious, magic, ideas of reference, passivity feelings and grandeur. The beliefs of the head of the family, or his equivalent, did not contribute directly to the content. It was concluded that the general cultural beliefs, rather than the immediate environment, play a dominant role in determining the contents of delusion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Delusion of pregnancy in males: a case report and literature review.

Delusions of pregnancy in males are bizarre delusions that are rare in occurrence. Variables in characterization of such delusions include organic factors, neuroendocrine abnormalities, sexual identity confusion, misinterpretation of mechanical factors, and wishes for another baby. In this report we describe a persistent delusion of pregnancy in a 43-year-old man with chronic schizophrenia in the background of poor sexual adjustment.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Delusions in newly admitted residents of nursing homes.

Two psychiatrists, using standardized clinical examinations, found that 21% of 125 patients newly admitted to nursing homes had delusions. The psychiatric disorders associated with these delusions are described. Delusional patients were more behaviorally disturbed before admission than nondelusional patients. These behavior problems were often the reason for admission, and they persisted after admission. Nursing home staff members infrequently identified and often inappropriately treated delusional patients. Since delusions are an important potentially treatable cause of behavior problems in nursing home residents, the authors suggest ways to improve the recognition and management of delusions.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Cognitive deficits of patients with Alzheimer's disease with and without delusions.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this investigation was to study the prevalence of delusions in Alzheimer's disease and to compare the performance of the delusional and nondelusional groups on a neuropsychological test battery. METHOD: The authors studied 107 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 51 age- and education-comparable normal subjects using a standardized psychiatric interview and a neuropsychological test battery. RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients with Alzheimer's disease had delusions with or without hallucinations. Patients with delusions were significantly more impaired than those without delusions (and the normal comparison group) on the Mini-Mental State examination; Blessed Information-Memory-Concentration Test; Dementia Rating Scale, especially its conceptualization and memory subtests; and a test of verbal fluency. The delusional group also tended to be somewhat more impaired than the nondelusional group on the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the similarities subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-revised. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one-third of patients with Alzheimer's disease had developed psychotic symptoms sometime after the onset of dementia. The presence of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease was associated with greater cognitive impairment, especially frontal/temporal dysfunction, and possibly with a more rapidly progressive dementia.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1993

The reliability of three definitions of bizarre delusions.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine whether the interjudge reliability of the DSM-III-R concept of bizarre delusions could be improved by alternative definitions of the concept. METHOD: Twelve raters evaluated 180 delusions of separate psychiatric patients according to the DSM-III-R and two alternative definitions of bizarre delusions. RESULTS: The kappas for the DSM-III-R definition and for one of the alternative definitions were 0.64 and 0.65, respectively; for the other alternative definition it was 0.45. All three definitions were highly intercorrelated, largely identifying the same cases. CONCLUSIONS: Neither of the alternative definitions of bizarre delusions was more reliable than the DSM-III-R definition. The reliability of the DSM-III-R definition, although only fair, is comparable to that of other important clinical concepts that play a major role in the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Cognitive neuropsychiatric models of persecutory delusions.

OBJECTIVE: The major cognitive theories of persecutory delusion formation and maintenance are critically examined in this article. METHOD: The authors present a comprehensive review of the literature, citing results of relevant functional neuroimaging and neural network studies. RESULTS: People with persecutory delusions selectively attend to threatening information, jump to conclusions on the basis of insufficient information, attribute negative events to external personal causes, and have difficulty in envisaging others' intentions, motivations, or states of mind. Presence of the "reality distortion" cluster of psychotic symptoms correlates with cerebral blood flow in the left lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, superior temporal gyrus, and parahippocampal region. Social cognitive processing (selective attention to threat, attribution of causation or mental states) in normal subjects involves similar areas. Neural network models of persecutory delusions highlight the importance of disordered neuromodulation in their formation and of disordered neuroplasticity in their maintenance. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies examining the interaction of these cognitive processes, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, at cognitive psychological, neural network, and functional neuroanatomical levels are warranted to establish a comprehensive cognitive neuropsychiatric model of the persecutory delusion.

Attention↗
PubMed2001

Delusions and suicidality.

OBJECTIVE: Delusions have been considered a risk factor for suicidal behavior. To determine whether specific delusion types are related to suicidal behaviors, the authors compared the clinical characteristics of patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia who did and did not have a history of suicide attempts. METHOD: After admission for inpatient or outpatient psychiatric treatment, 429 patients (ages 14-72 years; 47.1% male; and 73.0% Caucasian) were assessed with a structured clinical interview that generated axis I and II diagnoses. In addition, their psychiatric symptoms, history of suicide attempts, and overall functioning were rated. RESULTS: Data for three diagnostic subgroups (223 patients with major depression, 150 with schizophrenia, and 56 with bipolar disorder) were analyzed separately. Multivariate analyses did not find evidence of a relationship between delusions and history of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts in any of the diagnostic groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not find evidence that the presence of delusions distinguished persons with or without a history of suicide attempt.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease: review of the brain decade.

The authors reviewed studies published from 1990 to 2001 that address the epidemiology, phenomenology, course, etiology, assessment, and treatment of delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease. The prevalence of delusions in Alzheimer's disease patients ranged from 16% to 70% (median=36.5%) in the reviewed reports, and the prevalence of hallucinations ranged from 4% to 76% (median=23%). Delusions and hallucinations tended to persist over time, tended to recur often during the course of Alzheimer's disease, and were associated with sociodemographic and clinical correlates that differed from one study to another and with substantial consequences such as functional impairment and aggression. Psychosocial methods and both typical and atypical antipsychotics are effective in the treatment of delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder among adult psychiatric inpatients with a history of child abuse.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between three positive symptoms of schizophrenia-hallucinations, delusions and thought disorder-and childhood physical and sexual abuse among psychiatric inpatients was investigated. METHODS: From the records of 100 consecutive admissions to an acute psychiatric inpatient unit in a New Zealand general hospital, the records of the 22 patients in which a history of either physical or sexual childhood abuse was mentioned were examined for data on the frequency and content of hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder. RESULTS: Seventeen of the 22 patients exhibited one or more of the three symptoms. Half of the symptoms for which content was recorded appeared to be related to the abuse. An analysis of the relationships between types of abuse and specific symptoms suggested that hallucinations may be more common than delusions or thought disorder among patients who have been sexually abused, particularly among those who have experienced incest, and that delusions may be more related to having been physically abused. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings confirmed previous findings of a high frequency of auditory hallucinations, particularly command hallucinations to kill oneself, and paranoid ideation among inpatients with a history of abuse. The hypothesis that the hallucinations of abuse survivors are "pseudohallucinations" was not supported.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Delusion as error: the history of a metaphor.

Error has been the major metaphor for understanding delusions through the past three centuries. Modern definition of delusion as erroneous opinion or belief is evidence of the continuing role of this metaphor to this day. However, through long habituation the metaphorical nature of the association between delusion and error is no longer recognized. In other words, the metaphor has become literal and all but invisible. This paper seeks to shed light on this metaphor by tracing its development from inception in the seventeenth century to the present time. Also, the impact of the metaphor on modern research and therapeutic approaches is briefly discussed. Finally, to put the metaphor of error in perspective, some other metaphors applied to delusion over the years are reviewed.

Delusions↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Review of delusions in dementia.

Although delusions are common symptoms in dementia and are associated with a number of adverse outcomes, research in this area has been limited. This article attempts to summarize the existing literature on delusions in dementia with respect to known risk factors, etiology, pathogenesis, neurocognitive findings, behavioral symptoms, and treatment. This study reviews all relevant abstracts and articles pertaining to delusions and dementia. The reviewers found that the studies were limited by confusion concerning phenomenology. However, consistent findings show that delusions are associated with certain demographic variables, neuropathologic and neurocognitive findings, adverse behavioral outcomes, and limited treatment response. The authors conclude that further longitudinal studies with better clarification of terminology are required to clarify inconsistencies and shed light on future treatment options.

Aggression↗
PubMed1997

Delusion, the overvalued idea and religious beliefs: a comparative analysis of their characteristics.

BACKGROUND: The study sought to investigate the form of the delusion in schizophrenia and the overvalued idea in anorexia, employing a range of belief characteristics to discover whether differences could be detected between them, and how they stood in general relationship to the religious beliefs of normals. METHOD: A belief rating scale was devised with 12 characteristics, and completed by 20 schizophrenics, 20 anorectics, and 20 normal controls. Comparisons were drawn between populations using the Mann-Whitney test, and different types of belief were contrasted within diagnostic groups using each subject as their own control by repeated-measures MANOVA. RESULTS: The schizophrenic delusion was differentiated from the overvalued idea in anorexia by a number of variables, which also served to distinguish both phenomena from religious beliefs held by normals. The schizophrenic delusion exhibited many of the qualities of an initial (or observational) belief, when its content suggested that it should manifest those of a derived belief. The anorectic overvalued idea, although occasionally an initial belief in terms of its content, was typically held in the form of a derived belief. CONCLUSIONS: A wider range of characteristics is required to define all the differences between delusion and the overvalued idea, and these have implications for belief modification programmes.

Adult↗