Delusion and Self-Deception

摘要: Delusions can vary both thematically and in scope. The delusions of some individuals are tightly circumscribed; for example, a person with “Capgras” delusion may believe that a loved one (usually a spouse or close relative) has been replaced by a physically identical impostor, but be mentally lucid in seemingly all other respects. More remarkable still is the phenomenon of “perceptual delusional bicephaly,” exemplified by the case of a man who believed that he had two heads, the second of which belonged to his late wife’s gynecologist. This patient was unfortunately hospitalized with gunshot wounds after attempting to remove the second head violently. He had initially planned to attack it with an ax (Ames, 1984). Other individuals suffer from widespread polythematic delusions involving a more extensive loss of contact with reality (Langdon & Coltheart, 2000). Consider here the celebrated case of German Supreme Court Judge Daniel Schreber. In addition to an alarming array of hypochondriacal symptoms (he believed that his viscera were missing, that his brain was softening, and that he suffered from the Plague), Schreber was convinced that divine forces were preparing him for a sexual union with God by changing him into a woman. He believed that from this union would issue forth a new race of humans who would restore the world to a lost state of blessedness (Bell, 2003). 1