Delusional you

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Tony.Williams
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Delusional you

Post by Tony.Williams »

The latest New Scientist includes an interesting article by Dan Jones on mass delusions - sadly only the intro is on-line, here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... st-things/

It classifies common delusions into a few core themes:
- Persecutory (others are out to harm you); the most common type, affecting between 10 and 15% of people.
- Referential (everything that happens relates to you); often combines with Persecutory.
- Control (you are being manipulated by outside agents): common in schizophrenia.
- Erotomanic (someone you don't know is in love with you); usually a celebrity.
- Grandiose (a belief that you are better than the rest); of course, that might not be a delusion :ang
- Jealous (irrationally believe your partner is unfaithful); the delusion most commonly associated with violence.
- Somatic (a belief that something is wrong with you, or you are dead).
- Misidentification (beliefs about changed identity); e.g. Capgras delusion, in which people believe that a loved one has been replaced by a doppelgänger.

There is also a 21-point list of questions, the answers to which determine how vulnerable to delusions you are (normality = saying "yes" to 6 or 7 of them). I scored 0, which is encouraging - unless there's a delusion about not being vulnerable to delusions... :???:
chaggle
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Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:01 am

Re: Delusional you

Post by chaggle »

Interesting - wish I could read the whole thing.

I wonder what the connection is with personality disorders.

I have a family member who I am certain suffers from Narcissistic Personality disorder (it's actually the family which suffers rather than her :-( ) and she exhibits several of those delusions, notably referential and grandiose.

Incidentally although we can't read the whole thing there are wiki entries and much more info online about each delusion.
Don't blame me - I voted remain :con
Tony.Williams
Posts: 1317
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:05 am
Location: Still somewhere in England
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Re: Delusional you

Post by Tony.Williams »

PM me with an email address... :???:
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