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Delusion

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Delusions are the experience of spontaneous, incorrect and fictional beliefs held with strong conviction.

In the context of hallucinogenic drugs they are temporary perspectives which one may slip into during high dosage experiences. They are most likely to occur during states of memory suppression and share many common themes and elements with clinical schizophrenia. In most cases, these delusions can be broken out of when appropriate evidence is provided to the contrary or the person has sobered up enough to logically analyse the situation.

Types

Delusions are categorized into four different groups:

  • Bizarre delusion: This is a delusion that is very strange and completely implausible. An example of a bizarre delusion would be that aliens have removed the reporting person's brain.
  • Non-bizarre delusion: This is a delusion that, though false, is at least possible such as the affected person mistakenly believing that they are currently under police surveillance.
  • Mood-congruent delusion: This is any delusion with content consistent with either a depressive or anxious state. For example, a depressed person may believe that news anchors on television highly disapprove of them or a person in a manic state might believe they are a powerful deity.
  • Mood-neutral delusion: This is a delusion that does not relate to the sufferer's emotional state. For example, a belief that an extra limb is growing out of the back of one's head is neutral to either depression or mania.[1]

Themes

In addition to these categories, delusions often manifest according to a consistent theme. Although delusions can have any theme, certain themes are more common. Some of the more common delusion themes are:

Delusion of reference

The person falsely believes that insignificant remarks, events, or objects in one's environment have personal meaning or significance. For example, one may feel that people on television and radio or lyrics within a song are talking about or directly to them.

Delusion of sobriety

This is the false belief that one is perfectly sober despite obvious evidence to the contrary such as severe cognitive impairment and an inability to fully communicate with others.

Delusion of control

This is a false belief that another person, group of people, or external force controls one's general thoughts, feelings, impulses, or behaviour.

Delusion of death

This is a false belief that one is about to die, is currently dying, does not exist or has already died.

Delusion of guilt or sin (or delusion of self-accusation)

This is an ungrounded feeling of remorse or guilt of delusional intensity in which one believes that they have committed some sort of unethical act.

Delusion of mind being read

This is the false belief that other people can know one's thoughts.

Delusion of mind being controlled

This is the false belief that a separate entity of some sort is controlling one's thoughts and/or actions.

Delusion of thought insertion

This is the belief that another thinks through the mind of the person. This results in the person becoming unable to distinguish between their own thoughts and those "inserted" into their minds.

Delusion of reality

This is the delusion that something which is actually fictitious is real and either has occurred, is going to occur or is currently occurring. The most common example of this is the belief that a television show, video or a movie which one is watching is a real event that is currently happening within the room and is not just a video.

Grandiose delusion

This is the belief that the affected person is a god or chosen to act as a god. An individual can become convinced they have special powers, talents, or abilities. Sometimes, the individual may actually believe they are a famous person or character such as Jesus Christ.

Delusion of transcendence

This is the belief that one has permanently transcended to a higher plane of dimensional existence as a result of high dosage hallucinogen use. It can also manifest itself as thinking that one has discovered the secret to "transcending" and that they will be able to implement it just as soon as they sober up. Once this occurs, however, the secret is found to nonsensical or incorrect.

Delusions of enlightenment

This is the experience of the emotion that one has solved a difficult problem or answered a profound question, without there being a problem or question to begin with. Or with the problem or question seeming entirely ineffable and afterwards hard to verify if it made sense in the first place. This effect can also take place by eliciting strong intellectual satisfaction from solving valid but minor questions.


Psychoactive substances

Compounds within our psychoactive substance index which may cause this effect include:

... further results

Experience reports

Anecdotal reports which describe this effect within our experience index include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "minddisorders.com | http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Delusions.html
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