delusion

A false belief or wrong judgment held with conviction despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. [L. de-ludo, pp. -lusus, to play false, deceive, fr. ludo, to play]

- d. of control, d. of being controlled a d. in which one experiences one's feelings, impulses, thoughts, or actions as not one's own, but as being imposed on by some external force. SYN: d. of passivity.

- encapsulated d. a d. that usually relates to one specific topic or belief but does not pervade an individual's life or level of functioning.

- expansive d. SYN: d. of grandeur.

- d. of grandeur a d. in which one believes oneself possessed of great wealth, intellect, importance, power, etc. SYN: expansive d., grandiose d..

- grandiose d. SYN: d. of grandeur.

- d. of negation a d. in which one imagines that the world and all that relates to it have ceased to exist. SYN: nihilistic d..

- nihilistic d. SYN: d. of negation.

- organic delusions false beliefs experienced in the delirium associated with dementia in conjunction with traumatic injury to the brain, or an organic change in the brain such as in Alzheimer syndrome, or in cocaine or other drug intoxication.

- d. of passivity SYN: d. of control.

- d. of persecution, persecutory d. a false notion that one is being persecuted; characteristic symptom of paranoid schizophrenia.

- d. of reference a delusional idea that external events, etc., refer to the self.

- somatic d. a d. having reference to a nonexistent lesion or alteration of some organ or part of the body; sometimes indistinguishable from hypochondriasis.

- systematized d. a d. that is logically constructed from a false premise and embraces a specific sector of the patient's life.

- unsystematized d. one of a group of apparently discrete, disconnected delusions.

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de·lu·sion di-'lü-zhən n

1 a) the act of deluding: the state of being deluded

b) an abnormal mental state characterized by the occurrence of psychotic delusions

2) a false belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that persists despite the facts and occurs in some psychotic states compare HALLUCINATION (1), ILLUSION (2a)

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n.

an irrationally held belief that cannot be altered by rational argument. In mental illness it is often a false belief that the individual is persecuted by others, is very powerful, is controlled by others, or is a victim of physical disease (see paranoia). Delusions may be a symptom of schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, or an organic psychosis.

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de·lu·sion (də-looґzhən) [L. delusio, from de from + ludus a game] a false belief that is firmly maintained in spite of incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary and in spite of the fact that other members of the culture do not share the belief. delusional adj