DELUSION
Delusion is a false belief in something which is not a fact, and which persists
even after is falsity has been clearly demonstrated. A normal person can have
a delusion, but is capable of correcting it by reasoning power, by his past
experience and by being convinced by others. A secondary delusion arises from
some morbid experience. Delusion in insane person is a symptom of brain
disease. It is under the control of emotional but not rational forces. They are
found in affective and schizophrenic psychoses. Delusions are not seen in
anxiety neurosis and other neurotic illnesses.
TYPES
1. Grandeur or exaltation- A man images himself to be a very rich while in
reality he is a pauper.
2. persecution- the person imagines that attempts are been made to poison him
by his nearest relatives like wife, sons or parents. Delusions of grandeur and
persecution are often present together in the same person.
3. Reference- the person believes that people, things, events etc., refer to him in
a special way. He believes that even strangers in the street are looking at him and
talking about him, or items in radio or newspapers are referring to him.
4. Influence- they occur in schizophrenia. The person complains that his
thoughts , feelings and actions are being influenced and controlled by some
outside agency like radio hypnotism, telepathy, etc.,
5. Infidelity- a man imagines his wife to be unfaithful while in fact she is chaste.
6. Self-reproach: a person scolds himself for the past failures and misdeeds
which are often of no importance.
7. Nihilistic: The person declares that he does not exist or that there is no world,
etc.
8. Hypochondriacal: The person believes that there is something wrong with his
body, though he is healthy.
9. Other types: are of jealousy, of religion, etc.
HALLUCINATION
It is a false sense perception without any external object or stimulus to produce
it. They are purely imaginary and may affect any or all the special senses.
TYPES
1.Visual: A person imagines of being attacked by a lion, when no lion exists.
2.Auditory: A person hears voices and imagines that a person is speaking to him
when no one is present.
3. Olfactory: A person smells pleasant or unpleasant odour when none is present.
4.Gustatory: A person feels sweet, sour, bitter, good or bad taste in the mouth,
though no food is actually present.
5.Tactile: A man imagines rats and mice crawling into his bed, when there are
none.
6.Psychomotor: A man will have feeling of movement of some part of the body
in the absence of such movement.
ILLUSION
It is a false interpretation by the senses of an external object or stimulus which
has a real existence, e.g. When a person sees a dog and mistakes it for lion, or
hears the notes of birds and imagines them to human voices, or imagines a string
hanging in his room to be snake.
IMPLUSE
This is a sudden and irresistible force compelling a person conscious
performance of some action without motive or for thought. A sane person is
capable of controlling an impulse. An insane person having no judgment and no
reasoning power, and no capacity to understand the facts, may do things on
impulse. These are usually seen in imbecility, dementia, acute mania and
epilepsy.
TYPES:
1) Kleptomania: an irresistible desire to steal articles of little value.
2) Pyromania: an irresistible desire to set fire to things.
3) Mutilomania: an irresistible desire to mutilate animals.
4) Dipsomania: an irresistible desire for alcoholic drinks at intervals.
5) Sexual impulses including sexual perversions.
6) Suicidal and homicidal impulses.
OBSESSION:
IN THIS, A SINGLE IDEA OR THOUGHT OR EMOTION IS CONSTANLY
ENTERTAINED BY A PERSON WHICH GET RECOGNIZES AS IRRATIONAL, but persists
inspite of all efforts to drive it from its mind. It is a disorder of content of
thought. It’s a border line between sanity and insanity. It usually occurs in
neurotic people, well able to discharge the ordinary responses of life. Eg. A wife
may continuously believe her husband to be unfaithful inspite of proof to the
contrary.
