Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T12:31:58.042Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Delusions as “Wrong Beliefs”: A Conceptual History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

G. E. Berrios
G. E. Berrios*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It was a common view among 19th century historians and clinicians that the study of delusions was the study of insanity itself (Ball & Ritti, 1881). At the beginning of the 20th century, Jaspers rendered this insight into a cliche (Jaspers, 1963). The nature of the link between delusion and insanity, however, has continued to confuse scholars, particularly those writing in the English language (Ireland, 1885; Arthur, 1964; Moor & Tucker, 1979; Winters & Neale, 1983). German (Huber & Gross, 1977), French (Ey, 1950) and Spanish (Cabaleiro Goas, 1966) writers have fared better; unfortunately, much of their work remains inaccessible to English-speaking psychiatrists. This is one of the reasons why, in Anglo-Saxon psychiatry, it has been suggested that the ‘definitive‘ view on delusions started with Jaspers and the Heidelberg school (Hoenig, 1968). This suggestion is misleading (Berrios, 1991), for by 1912, when Chaslin published his great work on descriptive psychopathology, all the distinctions nowadays attributed to Jaspers had already been made. Indeed, the rare efforts made to escape from the ‘pathological belief view were ignored (Southard, 1916).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue S14: Delusions and Awareness of Reality , November 1991 , pp. 6 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaron, R. (1965) John Locke. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Arthur, A. Z. (1964) Theories and explanations of delusions: a review. American Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 105–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Austin, J. L. (1962) How To Do Things With Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ball, B. & Ritti, A. (1881) Délire. In Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Sciences Medicates, Vol. 26 (eds Dechambre, A. & Lereboullet, L.), pp. 315–408. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Bain, A. (1859) The Emotions and the Will. London: John W. Parker.Google Scholar
Battie, W. (1758) A Treatise on Madness. London: Whiston & White.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1981) Delirium and confusion in the 19th century. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 439–449.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1982) Tactile hallucinations: conceptual and historical aspects. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 45, 285–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrios, G. E. (1984) Descriptive psychopathology: conceptual and historical aspects. Psychological Medicine, 14, 303–313.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1985) The psychopathology of affectivity: conceptual and historical aspects. Psychological Medicine, 15, 745–758.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1985a) Positive and negative symptoms and Jackson. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 95–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrios, G. E. (1988) Historical background to abnormal psychology. In Adult Abnormal Psychology (eds Miller, E. & Cooper, P. J.), pp. 26–51. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1990) A theory of hallucinations. History of Psychiatry, 1, 145–150.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1991) British psychopathology: a conceptual history. In 150 Years of British Psychiatry, 1841–1991 (eds Berrios, G. E. & Freeman, H.), pp. 232–244. London: Gaskell.Google Scholar
Berrios, G. E. (1991a) Negative and positive signals: a conceptual history. In Negative versus Positive Schizophrenia (eds Andreason, A. Marneros N. C. & Tsuang, M. T.), pp. 8–27. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1906) Affectivität, Suggestibilität, Paranoia. Halle: Carl Marhold.Google Scholar
Bucknill, J. & Tuke, D. H. (1858) A Manual of Psychological Medicine. London: John Churchill.Google Scholar
Cabaleiro Goas, M. (1966) La psicopatología de los delirios. In Temas psiquiátricos, pp. 957–1012. Madrid: Paz Montalvo.Google Scholar
Chaslin, Ph. (1912) Eléments de Sémiologie et Clinique Mentales. Paris: Asselin & Houzeau.Google Scholar
Christodoulou, G. N. (ed.) (1986) The Delusional Misidentification Syndromes. Basel: Karger.Google ScholarPubMed
Conrad, K. (1958) Die beginnende Schizophrenic. Stuttgart: Thieme.Google Scholar
Cummings, J. L. (1985) Organic delusions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 184–197.Google Scholar
Esquirol, E. (1838) Des Maladies Mentales (2 vols). Paris: Baillière.Google Scholar
Ey, H. (1950) Estudios Sobre los Delirios. Madrid: Paz Montalvo.Google Scholar
Ey, H. (1954) Structure et déstructuration de la conscience. In Études Psychiatriques (ed. Ey, H.), pp. 653–760. Paris: Desclée de Bouwer.Google Scholar
Ey, H., Marty, P. & Dublineau, J. (1952) Psychopathologie Générate. Comptes Rendus des Séances. Premier Congrès Mondial de Psychiatrie (Vol. 1). Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Faure, H. (1971) Les Appartenances du Délirant. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Fischhoff, B. & Beyth-Marom, R. (1983) Hypothesis evaluation from a Bayesian perspective. Psychological Review, 90, 239–260.Google Scholar
Garety, P. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1987) Characteristics of delusional experience. European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 236, 294–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garety, P. A., Everitt, B. S. & Hemsley, D. R. (1988) The characteristics of delusions: a cluster analysis of deluded subjects. European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 237, 112–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garnier, A. (1852) Traité des Facultés de L'ame (3 Vols). Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
Gigerenzer, G., Swijtink, Z., Porter, T., et al (1988) The Empire of Chance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hagen, F. W. (1870) Studien auf dem Gebiet der ärztlichen Seelenkunde. Erlangen: Besold.Google Scholar
Hartley, D. (1834) Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations (6th edn). London: Tegg & Son.Google Scholar
Hemsley, D. R. & Garety, P. A. (1986) The formation of maintenance of delusions: a Bayesian analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobbes, T. (1968) Leviathan. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Hoenig, J. (1968) The clinical usefulness of the phenomenology of delusions. International Journal of Psychiatry, 6, 41–45.Google Scholar
Hodges, H. A. (1952) The Philosophy of Wilhelm Dilthey. Connecticut: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Huber, G. & Gross, G. (1977) Wahn. Stuttgart: Enke.Google Scholar
Ireland, W. W. (1885) On fixed ideas. In The Blot upon the Brain, pp. 184–200. Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfoot.Google Scholar
Iverson, G. R. (1984) Bayesian Statistical Inference. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. H. (1894) The factors of insanities. Medical Press & Circular, ii, 615–626.Google Scholar
Jaspers, K. (1963) General Psychopathology (transl. by Hoenig, J. and Hamilton, M.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Kendler, K., Glazer, W. M. & Morgenstern, H. (1983) Dimensions of delusional experience. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 466–469.Google Scholar
Kretschmer, E. (1918) Der sensitive Beziehungswahn. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Llopis, B. (1946) La Psicosis Pelagrosa. Barcelona: Editorial Científico-Médica.Google Scholar
Llopis, B. (1969) Sobre la Delusion y la Paranoia. In Afectividad, Sugestibilidad, Paranoia (ed. Bleuler, E.) (translated by B. Llopis) Madrid: Morata.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (1959) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (collated and annotated by Fraser, A. C.). New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Luys, J. (1876) Le Cerveau. Paris: Baillière.Google Scholar
Martin-Santos, L. (1955) Dilthey, Jaspers y la Comprensión del Enfermo Mental. Madrid: Paz Montalvo.Google Scholar
Melges, F. T. & Freeman, A. M. (1975) Persecutory delusions: a cybernetic model. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 1038–1044.Google Scholar
Monakow, C. & Mourgue, R. (1928) Introduction Biologique à l'étude de la Neurologie et de la Psychopathologie. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Moor, J. H. & Tucker, G. J. (1979) Delusions: analysis and criteria. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 20, 388–393.Google Scholar
Morel, F. (ed.) (1950) Psychopathologie des délires. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Musalek, M., Berner, P. & Katschnig, H. (1989) Delusional theme, sex and age. Psychopathology, 22, 260–267.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., Krantz, D. H., Jepson, C., et al (1983) The use of statistical heuristics in everyday inductive reasoning. Psychological Review. 90, 339–363.Google Scholar
Oepen, G., Harrington, A., Spitzer, M., et al (1989) “Feelings” of conviction: on the relation of affect and thought disorder. In Psychopathology and Philosophy (eds Spitzer, M., Uehlein, F. A. & Oepen, G.), pp. 43–55. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Paulus, J. (1941) Le Problème de L'hallucination et L'évolution de la Psychologie d'Esquirol à Pierre Janet. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.Google Scholar
Peters, R. (1967) Hobbes. London: Peregrine Books.Google Scholar
Pinel, Ph. (1806) A Treatise on Insanity (translated by Davis, D. D.). Sheffield: W. Todd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, H. H. (1934) Some considerations about belief. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 35, 229–252.Google Scholar
Quinton, A. (1967) Knowledge and belief. In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Vol. 3) (ed. Edwards, P.), pp. 345–352. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Schmidt, G. (1940) Der Wahn im deutschprachigen Schrifttum der letzten 25 Jahre (1914–1939). Zentralblatt für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 97, 113–143.Google Scholar
Sérieux, P. & Capgras, J. (1909) Les folies raisonnantes. Le délire d'interprétation. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Smith, A. C. (1968) Notes on difficulties in the definition of delusion. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 41, 255–259.Google Scholar
Spitzer, M. (1990) On defining delusions. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 31, 377–397.Google Scholar
Southard, E. E. (1916) On the application of grammatical categories to the analysis of delusions. Philosophical Review, 25, 425–455.Google Scholar
Störring, G. (1939) Wessen und Bedeutung des Symptoms der Ratlosigkeit by psychischen Erkrankungen. Leipzig: Barth.Google Scholar
Timmermann, E. (1963) The description of delusional ideas. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 39, 324–334.Google Scholar
Walker, C. (1988) Philosophical concepts and practice: the legacy of Karl Jaspers’ psychopathology. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 1, 624–629.Google Scholar
Wernicke, C. (1906) Grundriβ der Psychiatrie in klinischen Vorlesungen. Leipzig: Thieme.Google Scholar
Winters, K. C. & Neale, J. M. (1983) Delusions and delusional thinking in psychotics: a review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 3, 227–253.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.