Persecutory Delusions: Assessment, Theory, and Treatment
Abstract
Persecutory delusions, the unfounded beliefs that others intend harm to the individual, are a major psychiatric problem. They are a common feature of severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder and bipolar disorder, often lead to admission to psychiatric hospital, and are a cause of considerable distress to patients and carers. However, increasingly it is recognised that persecutory delusions reflect the severe end of a spectrum of paranoia, which also encompasses beliefs and worries about threats from others that are common in the general population. In the last ten years an increasing number of researchers and clinicians have focussed on explaining paranoid experience in both clinical and non-clinical populations, with fascinating results. In this title, the three major authorities in the field bring together the current knowledge about the assessment, understanding, and treatment of persecutory delusions. Leading experts in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, social psychiatry, neuroimaging, and neuroscience explain their perspectives on paranoia. Pharmacological, cognitive, and family interventions are comprehensively reviewed, and personal accounts of paranoia are included.
Keywords:
delusional thinking,
delusional disorder,
bipolar disorder,
paranoia,
assessment,
paranoid experience,
persecutory delusions
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Print Publication Date:
- Jul 2008
- Print ISBN-13:
- 9780199206315
- Published online:
- Sep 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med:psych/9780199206315.001.0001
Authors
Daniel Freeman,
editor
Wellcome Trust Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Richard Bentall,
editor
Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Bangor, Wales
Philippa Garety,
editor
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK
