Delusional disorder is a psychotic disorder characterized by the presence of one or more delusional ideas. This means that people are convinced of facts that are not true.
For example, they may have the belief that someone is after them, that they want to poison them, or that their partner is unfaithful to them. There are even those who say they have won a Nobel Prize or an important recognition, convinced of it.
They are situations that could occur in real life, they are not implausible. However, the problem is that the person continues to defend that the delusional idea is true, despite all the evidence indicating otherwise.
On some occasions, the person firmly believes in almost impossible ideas, such as that he is the protagonist of a novel or that he has been chosen to save the world. These types of ideas are known as weird delusions.
Diagnostic criteria for delusional disorder
According to the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)”, for there to be a diagnosis of delusional disorder the person must meet the following criteria:
Presence of delusions that persist for at least one month.
The person does not meet criteria to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. There are usually no hallucinations, and if they exist, they are related to the theme of delirium.
The behavior of the person is relatively functional and does not tend to be strange in other areas of his life.
If there have been simultaneous affective episodes with the delusions, their total duration has been short in relation to the duration of the delusional periods.
The disorder is not due to the use of any type of substance or to a medical condition.
Among other things, it should be noted that delusional disorder can be of different types:
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