4 Kinds of Schizophrenia Delusions

Schizophrenia is a fairly complex psychiatric disorder, perhaps one of the most complicated ones, characterized by hallucinations, catatonia, disorganized thinking, lack of motivation (avolition), verbal incoherency, alogia (lack of or decreased speech abilities), and delusions among many other symptoms. It is a result of genetic conditions in a lot of cases but environmental factors may also be responsible for its development in a person. It is a part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - V, or DSM-V and can be found listed under Axis 1 in it which lists all the major mental disorders there are.

What is a Delusion?

Delusions are a symptom that most schizophrenics, no matter the type of schizophrenia that affects them, can be found exhibiting. Delusions are defined as fixed, false beliefs that differ from reality. Despite contrary evidence, a person in a delusional state can not let go of these convictions.

However, caution must be taken in making a difference between a delusion and a hallucination, as the two are quite often muddled together and one is mistaken for the other. A hallucination is a vivid, sensory experience that has no basis in reality, whereas a delusion is a belief with no roots in the real world. Hallucinations are also classified into quite a number of types, like visual hallucinations (seeing things that are not there), olfactory hallucinations (smelling things that are not actually there), auditory hallucinations (hearing things that are not really there), gustatory hallucinations (tastings things that are not there) and tactile hallucinations (feeling touch or movement in the body that is not actually present).

Delusions can also be of multiple types but here are the 4 common kinds of delusions and what they might look like.

1. Delusion of Grandeur

Delusion of grandeur refers to the kind of delusion in which an individual begins to feel that they are more powerful, smart, famous, wealthy, etc. than they really are. These are firmly rooted beliefs that do not align with the person’s reality. It is really hard for the person to let go of such beliefs and get tuned to their reality.

Examples of delusions of grandeur:

• If a person firmly believes that they are the Prime Minister of a country when they are not in their real life, thereby creating a gap between their perceived reality and the actual reality.

• If a person believes that they are God or the controller of the universe. To quote an incident, on January 27th, 2021, a woman in Hyderabad, India claimed to be ‘an incarnation of Lord Shiva’ and that she ‘gave birth to Corona’ .

• If a person believes that they can control nature etc.

2. Delusion of persecution

If someone is afflicted with this kind of delusion they feel as though everyone is conspiring against them or their loved ones and planning to harm them. It makes the person paranoid about their security and sometimes that of their loved ones. It might also make the individual believe that they are being mistreated. If it gets bad, it might end up completely disrupting the day-to-day life of the individual and cause them immense hindrances in normal functioning.

Examples include-

• A person may feel as though their neighbor is spying on them,

• They may feel that evil forces and spirits have plans to abduct them

• Or that the terrorists are out to get them etc.

The content of delusions of persecution has the ability to vary culturally. For example, in Western, modernist societies a person is more likely to have a delusion that ‘aliens are conspiring against them’ while someone from one of the Eastern, traditionalist societies is more likely to believe something like ‘evil spirits plan to cause harm to them’.

3. Delusion of Control

It is also known as the passivity phenomenon. Delusion of control makes an individual develop the beliefs that their thoughts, actions, feelings, impulses, words, etc. are being controlled by other forces such as aliens, gods, or other people. They feel they are losing charge of their behavior and that other forces are trying to control and manipulate them into doing things.

An example of a delusion of control would be:

• A person may firmly believe that the government is planting thoughts into their head and is trying to make them think things that they do not want to think.

• The opposite can also be true, as when a person garners the firm belief that someone is stealing thoughts from their head and making them forget things on purpose.

4. Delusion of Reference

As Dr. Richard Schweizer likes to put it, “A delusion of reference is one in which the individual develops the beliefs that unrelated occurrences in the external world have a special significance for the person who is being diagnosed.” They might believe that elements of the natural world have meanings and messages only meant for them. They might infer personal meanings to other people’s actions.

For example,

• A person might believe that a certain piece of music has messages for them.

• Another individual afflicted with this kind of delusion might believe as though the news on their television set is trying to deliver some signals and messages to them,

• or that reports in the newspaper carry special hints for them that they are meant to decode.

Delusions have the capacity to completely take over an individual’s life which is what makes it all the more important to have empathy, patience, and love for people suffering from them. It is not easy for either them or their caretakers to go through, but moment by moment, with proper clinical and social support, we can do our bit in making life a little better for them and helping them adjust to society, its people and institutions.

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Biography

This article has been written by Smriti Gupta (@Clarisse29). Smriti is a psychology student with a burning interest in creative writing and mental health advocacy. She has been an active listener on 7 cups since June 2017 and has provided support to hundreds of people on the website. She is a Project Agent for the ‘Positivity & Gratitude’ community at the moment and has formerly worked as a Forum Supporter for Relationship and Friendship Support Community as well. She is a 7 Cups Academy Mentor for the Content Development and Marketing Program, a program she has personally graduated with Honors.