Glossary

A Fixed false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality where the person cannot be corrected by reasoning. Occurs in some psychotic states and is firmly sustained despite clear evidence to the contrary. To be considered a delusion, the belief would not fit the person's cultural tradition or religious faith. Delusions are recorded in the thought content section of the Mental State Examination.

Delusions can range from bizarre and/or fragmented to plausible and organised:

Systematised delusions are a stable set of delusions in which various psychotic features tend to interrelate around a central theme.

Non-systematised delusions are those that change rapidly in content; their organisation is not clear, and the psychotic elements are not particulary interrelated.

Dimensions of Delusions:

• Conviction - How convinced person is of belief.

• Extent - Do delusions involve many areas of person's life?

• Bizarreness - A delusion that involves a phenomenon that the person's culture would regard as physically impossible. Bizarre delusions suggest schizophrenia.

• Disorganization - Are beliefs internally consistent, logical, and systematised?

• Pressure - How preoccupied person is with belief.

Some common types of delusions: grandiose, paranoid, persecutory, ideas of reference, and passivity phenomena (see definitions in this glossary)

Sensation of unreality concerning oneself, parts of oneself, or ones environment that occurs under extreme stress or fatigue. Seen in schizophrenia, depersonalisation disorder and schizotypal personality disorder.

Usually refers to a common and serious mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities (clinical depression). When used to describe a mood, depression refers to feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement.

Pattern of speech in which a person's ideas slip off one track onto another that is completely unrelated or only obliquely related. Thoughts are disconnected or illogically connected. In its worst form, derailment develops into loosening of associations and then further deteriorates into word salad. Documented in thought form/ flow section of Mental State Examination.

Feeling dejected. Without or almost without hope.

Acting according to one's inner drives or feelings, without regard for restraints imposed by cultural norms or superego. Removal of an inhibitory, constraining, or limiting influence.

The loss of awareness of the position of the self in relation to space, time, or other person; confusion.

Unconscious defence mechanism involving the segregation of any group of mental or behavioural processes from the rest of the person's psychic activity. May entail the separation of an idea form its accompanying emotional tone.

Inability to maintain attention; shifting from one area or topic to another with minimal stimulus.

Unusual rhythms found in a person's speech. Often resulting from stroke, trauma, or neurological conditions, it causes speech to sound monotonic, halting, or robotic. It is sometimes called a "pseudo-foreign dialect" because changes in pitch and cadence can make native speakers sound like they have a foreign accent.