Delusions are unfounded yet tenacious beliefs and a symptom of psychotic disorder. Varying degrees of delusional ideation are also found in the healthy population. Here, we empirically validated a neurocognitive model that explains both the formation and the persistence of delusional beliefs in terms of altered perceptual inference. In a combined behavioral and functional neuroimaging study in ...

The body of knowledge on delusional parasitosis incriminates “delusional patients” as having imaginary external and/or internal symptoms that feel like parasite movements, dismisses them as psychiatric cases, and confuses cause with effect. We are critical of these arguments and believe that the symptoms of crawling and pin-pricking are genuine; just misinterpreted as parasite movements. Based ...

BACKGROUND Body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in appearance) is a common and disabling disorder associated with high rates of delusional symptoms and suicide attempts. Although preliminary studies suggest that serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be effective for body dysmorphic disorder, to date no controlled treatment studies have been published. METHODS ...

The body of knowledge on delusional parasitosis incriminates “delusional patients” as having imaginary external and/or internal symptoms that feel like parasite movements, dismisses them as psychiatric cases, and confuses cause with effect. The author is critical of these arguments and believes that the symptoms of crawling and pin-pricking are genuine; just misinterpreted as parasite movements...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) patients (n = 66) treated with electroconvulsive therapy were stratified by the presence (n = 30) or absence (n = 36) of delusional symptoms (by Research Diagnostic Criteria) to compare their response to treatment. At discharge from hospital 83% of the MDD with psychosis group and 58% of the MDD without psychosis group were good responders (P = 0.03). The implica...

Patients 74 patients who had DSM-IV confirmed BDD with or without a delusional disorder for ≥ 6 months, were 18–65 years of age, scored ≥ 24 on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS), and scored at least moderate on the Clinical Global Impression scale for BDD (BDD-CGI). Exclusion criteria included psychotic disorder not attributable to delus...

OBJECTIVE Often considered difficult to treat in the past, even treatment-resistant, delusional disorder is now regarded as a treatable condition that responds to medication in many instances. Munro and Mok previously reviewed the published record of its treatment to 1994. This review aims to update and extend their observations and to examine the impact of new second-generation antipsychotic a...

Introduction. Delusional infestation is a rare monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis according to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It can be a primary disorder or associated with an underlying psychological or physical disorder. It commonly presents as delusional parasitosis, and less than 1% may be fungi rel...