Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of case descriptions
- Preface
- Part I Delusional disorders and delusions: introductory aspects
- Part II Descriptive and clinical aspects of paranoia/delusional disorder
- Part III ‘Paranoid spectrum’ illnesses which should be included in the category of delusional disorder
- Part IV Illnesses which are liable to be misdiagnosed as delusional disorders
- Part V Treatment of delusional disorder and overall conclusions
- Index
Part IV - Illnesses which are liable to be misdiagnosed as delusional disorders
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of case descriptions
- Preface
- Part I Delusional disorders and delusions: introductory aspects
- Part II Descriptive and clinical aspects of paranoia/delusional disorder
- Part III ‘Paranoid spectrum’ illnesses which should be included in the category of delusional disorder
- Part IV Illnesses which are liable to be misdiagnosed as delusional disorders
- Part V Treatment of delusional disorder and overall conclusions
- Index
Summary
The wrong way always seems the more reasonable.
George Moore (1852–1933)Before diagnosis there is the process of differential diagnosis in which the clinician extracts the probable from the possible and the likely from the unlikely. One cannot make a diagnosis without excluding others – no case is ever that black and white.
Since delusional disorder is still an unfamiliar concept to many mental health practitioners we have to alert them to its existence and teach them how to recognize it. We also have to remind them of those other illnesses which may bear some resemblance to it and underline the significant differences between them and it. In Chapter 2, there is mention of several conditions characterized by delusions and the main features which distinguish them from delusional disorder. Here, we wish to amplify some of these distinctions.
This Part comprises two chapters. In Chapter 11, there is a succinct but relatively detailed consideration of two psychotic disorders which are capable at times of being mistaken for delusional disorder, and which are not particularly well-described in the standard literature.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Delusional DisorderParanoia and Related Illnesses, pp. 193 - 194Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999