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Psychiatry Research Oct 2019The Dutch version of the Visual Hallucination Questionnaire was used to assess lifetime visual hallucinations (VH) characteristics in 27 patients with psychosis. Our... (Clinical Trial)
Clinical Trial
The Dutch version of the Visual Hallucination Questionnaire was used to assess lifetime visual hallucinations (VH) characteristics in 27 patients with psychosis. Our results confirmed substantial variance in many VH characteristics. Most patients reported multiple VH types. Complex VH were most prevalent, mainly consisting of people and animals, followed by simple, then geometric VH. Few patients experienced only simple VH. The VH generally had features resembling real perceptions. Insight was usually reduced. VH ranged from 'appropriate' and neutral to peculiar and delusion-associated. VH accompanied by fright and sound seem to be related to experiencing complex or multiple types of VH.
Topics: Adult; Delusions; Female; Hallucinations; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Netherlands; Prevalence; Psychotic Disorders; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 31446216
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112517 -
BioEssays : News and Reviews in... Nov 2019
Topics: Animals; Delusions; Humans; Selection, Genetic
PubMed: 31657873
DOI: 10.1002/bies.201900176 -
Consciousness and Cognition May 2020Cognitive neuropsychiatry is a branch of cognitive psychology that seeks to explain neuropsychiatric symptoms in terms of disruptions or damage to normal cognitive... (Review)
Review
Cognitive neuropsychiatry is a branch of cognitive psychology that seeks to explain neuropsychiatric symptoms in terms of disruptions or damage to normal cognitive processes. A key objective of this approach is to use insights derived from the study of pathological symptoms to inform accounts of premorbid cognitive systems. Delusions, in particular, can be considered to represent dysfunction of the cognitive processes underlying belief formation, so studying delusions may provide unique insights into nonpathological belief. While this approach has provided compelling accounts for a range of delusions in terms of putative cognitive dysfunctions, it is less clear that it has achieved progress in its reciprocal goal of informing understanding of belief more generally. In this review, we trace the origins of the cognitive neuropsychiatric approach and consider the reasons for the lack of progress. We propose a tentative framework to overcome these challenges and suggest directions for future research.
Topics: Cognitive Dysfunction; Cognitive Neuroscience; Delusions; Humans; Neuropsychiatry; Neuropsychology; Thinking
PubMed: 32334355
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102935 -
Soins. Psychiatrie 2023When we talk about the clinic of delusional symptoms, we are first and foremost affirming that delusions exist. Professionals working in psychiatry know that delusions...
When we talk about the clinic of delusional symptoms, we are first and foremost affirming that delusions exist. Professionals working in psychiatry know that delusions can be listened to, that they give meaning to suffering and are part of the history of the subject. Taking the time to reflect on this type of symptom allows us to invest in the clinical field specific to psychiatry, and only makes sense if the clinical approach is based on work referring to the patient's individual history. Maintaining and developing these attitudes to care is essential to the survival of psychiatry as a discipline. Focusing on the clinic of delusion is neither a luxury nor a waste of time.
Topics: Humans; Delusions; Psychiatry
PubMed: 37743085
DOI: 10.1016/j.spsy.2023.07.003 -
Comprehensive Psychiatry Apr 2021Two of Europe's most influential psychopathologists at the start of the twentieth century (Eugen Bleuler and Karl Jaspers) pointed out the fact that patients rarely act... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
Two of Europe's most influential psychopathologists at the start of the twentieth century (Eugen Bleuler and Karl Jaspers) pointed out the fact that patients rarely act according to their delusions. This study proposes an investigation of how this issue is addressed in psychopathological literature.
METHODS
This article offers a critical review of psychopathological literature which focuses on the influence of delusional ideation on behaviour.
RESULTS
Phenomenological psychiatry has relied on the paradox pointed out by Bleuler and Jaspers to emphasize disorders of self-experience in psychosis whereas analytical philosophy of delusion has focused on the psychological status of delusion, regarded as belief, certainty, or imagination. The empirical studies conducted during the past three decades - which were devoted to acting on delusion - focused on violent and safety-seeking behaviours. These studies have shown that these behavioural disorders are motivated by an emotional outburst (anger and/or fear) rather than by delusional content.
CONCLUSION
Delusional inconsequentiality can be clarified by conceptual research in phenomenological psychiatry and analytical philosophy, even though its role in the psychopathological processes has not yet been clearly identified or conceptualised. Empirical psychopathology on acting on delusion confirms the delusional inconsequentiality, but only implicitly, by highlighting the role of affectivity (rather than beliefs) in delusional actions. Given the major implications of better understanding this phenomenon, in terms of psychopathology and clinical practices, we suggest considering delusional inconsequentiality as a promising concept which could guide further research in contemporary psychopathology.
Topics: Delusions; Humans; Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychotic Disorders; Thinking
PubMed: 33581447
DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152230 -
The Neuroscientist : a Review Journal... Feb 2021Delusions are irrational, tenacious, and incorrigible false beliefs that are the most common symptom of a range of brain disorders including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's,... (Review)
Review
Delusions are irrational, tenacious, and incorrigible false beliefs that are the most common symptom of a range of brain disorders including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. In the case of schizophrenia and other primary delusional disorders, their appearance is often how the disorder is first detected and can be sufficient for diagnosis. At this time, not much is known about the brain dysfunctions leading to delusions, and hindering our understanding is that the complexity of the nature of delusions, and their very unique relevance to the human experience has hampered elucidation of their underlying neurobiology using either patients or animal models. Advances in neuroimaging along with improved psychiatric and cognitive modeling offers us a new opportunity to look with more investigative power into the deluded brain. In this article, based on data obtained from neuroimaging studies, we have attempted to draw a picture of the neural networks involved when delusion is present and evaluate whether different manifestations of delusions engage different regions of the brain.
Topics: Cerebral Cortex; Connectome; Delusions; Humans; Nerve Net; Schizophrenia, Paranoid; Ventral Striatum
PubMed: 32648532
DOI: 10.1177/1073858420936172 -
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association... Aug 2019
Topics: Brain; Capgras Syndrome; Delusions; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 31387959
DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.190048 -
Respiration; International Review of... 2022Rates of antimicrobial resistance are increasing globally while the pipeline of new antibiotics is drying up, putting patients with disease caused by drug-resistant... (Review)
Review
Rates of antimicrobial resistance are increasing globally while the pipeline of new antibiotics is drying up, putting patients with disease caused by drug-resistant bacteria at increased risk of complications and death. The growing costs for diagnosis and management of drug resistance threaten tuberculosis control where the disease is endemic and resources limited. Bacteriophages are viruses that attack bacteria. Phage preparations served as anti-infective agents long before antibiotics were discovered. Though small in size, phages are the most abundant and diverse biological entity on earth. Phages have co-evolved with their hosts and possess all the tools needed to infect and kill bacteria, independent of drug resistance. Modern biotechnology has improved our understanding of the biology of phages and their possible uses. Phage preparations are available to treat meat, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products against parasites or to prevent contamination with human pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, or Staphylococcus aureus. Such phage-treated products are considered fit for human consumption. A number of recent case reports describe in great detail the successful treatment of highly drug-resistant infections with individualized phage preparations. Formal clinical trials with standardized products are slowly emerging. With its highly conserved genome and relative paucity of natural phage defence mechanisms Mycobacterium tuberculosis appears to be a suitable target for phage treatment. A phage cocktail with diverse and strictly lytic phages that kill all lineages of M. tuberculosis, and can be propagated on Mycobacterium smegmatis, has been assembled and is available for the evaluation of optimal dosage and suitable routes of administration for tuberculosis in humans. Phage treatment can be expected to be safe and active on extracellular organisms, but phage penetration to intracellular and granulomatous environments as well as synergistic effects with antibiotics are important questions to address during further evaluation.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteriophages; Delusions; Humans; Mycobacteriophages; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Tuberculosis
PubMed: 34814151
DOI: 10.1159/000519870 -
Enfermedades Infecciosas Y... May 2021
Topics: Antipsychotic Agents; Delusional Parasitosis; Delusions; Humans
PubMed: 33810893
DOI: 10.1016/j.eimc.2021.03.001 -
Clinical Psychology Review Feb 2023Delusions can be conceptualized as beliefs that are both at odds with consensus reality and espoused with high conviction. While delusions represent a cardinal symptom... (Review)
Review
Delusions can be conceptualized as beliefs that are both at odds with consensus reality and espoused with high conviction. While delusions represent a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia, delusion-like beliefs can be found in the general population. Do similar cognitive mechanisms support delusionality across this spectrum? If so, what are they? Here, we examine evidence for a mechanistic role of the (associative) memory system in the formation and maintenance of delusions and delusion-like beliefs. While general neurocognitive metrics do not tend to associate with delusionality, our scoping review of the clinical and subclinical literature reveals several subdomains of memory function that do. These include a propensity to commit errors of commission (i.e., false alarms and intrusions), source memory biases, and metamemory impairment. We discuss how several of these effects may stem from aberrant associative memory function and offer recommendations for future research. Further, we propose a state/trait interaction model in which underlying traits (i.e., impaired associative and metamemory function) may become coupled with delusionality during states of acute psychosis, when memory function is particularly challenged by aberrant salience attribution and noisy perceptual input. According to this model, delusions may arise as explanations to high-salience (but low-source) mnemonic content that is endorsed with high confidence.
Topics: Humans; Delusions; Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia; Memory; Metacognition
PubMed: 36469975
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102231