Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T20:54:22.983Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acting on delusion: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Alec Buchanan
Alec Buchanan*
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Alec Buchanan, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The paper reviews the link between delusional beliefs and behaviour. The literature pertaining to the link between normal beliefs and behaviour is briefly examined, emphasizing the predominance of psychological and philosophical contributions to the topic. The psychiatric literature describing actions consequent upon delusional beliefs is then reviewed. In conclusion, those aspects of psychosis, distinct from delusional beliefs themselves, which may affect the likelihood of a given belief being acted upon, are discussed.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 123 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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

REFERENCES

Abrams, R. & Taylor, M. A. (1976). Catatonia. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 579–581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albert, D. M., Burns, W. P. & Scheie, H. G. (1965). Severe orbitocranial foreign-body injury. American Journal of Ophthalmology 60, 1109–1111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anaclerio, A. M. & Wicker, H. S. (1970). Self induced solar retinopathy by patients in a psychiatric hospital. American Journal of Ophthalmology 69, 731–736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Austin, J. L. (1956–1957). A plea for excuses. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 57, 1–30. Reprinted in The Philosophy of Action (ed. A. R. White), pp. 19–42. Oxford University Press: Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bach-y-Rita, G. (1974). Habitual violence and self mutilation. American Journal of Psychiatry 131, 1018–1020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bach-y-Rita, G. & Veno, A. (1974). Habitual violence: a profile of 62 men. American Journal of Psychiatry 131, 1015–1017.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartko, G., Herczeg, I. & Zador, G. (1988). Clinical symptomatology and drug compliance in schizophrenic patients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 77, 74–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauman, E. (1971). Schizophrenic short-term memory: a deficit in subjective organisation. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 3, 55–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beilin, L. M. (1953). Genital self-mutilation by mental patients. Journal of Urology 70, 648–655.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beilin, L. M. & Gruenberg, J. (1948). Genital self mutilation by mental patients. Journal of Urology 59, 635–641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bemporad, J. R. (1967). Perceptual disorders in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 123, 971–976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blacker, K. & Wong, N. (1963). Four cases of autocastration. Archives of General Psychiatry 8, 169–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, E. (1911). Dementia Praecox oder die Grüppe der Schizophrenien (translated by Zinkian, Joseph, 1950). International University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Bleuler, E. (1924). Textbook of Psychiatry (translated by Brill, A. A.). Macmillan: New York.Google Scholar
Bowden, P. (1990). De Clérambault syndrome. In Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry (ed. Bluglass, R. and Bowden, P.), pp. 821–822. Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Brodsky, M. (1963). Interpersonal stimuli as interference in a sorting task. Journal of Personality 31, 517–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, K. (1970). Body and Mind. MacMillan: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campion, J., Cravens, J. M., Rotholc, A., Weinstein, H. C., Covan, F. & Alpert, M. (1985). A study of 15 matricidal men. American Journal of Psychiatry 142, 312–317.Google ScholarPubMed
Christodoulou, G. N. (1978). Syndrome of subjective doubles. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 249–251.Google ScholarPubMed
Clérambault, C. G. de (1942). Les psychoses passionelles. In Oeuvres Psychiatriques, pp. 315–322. Presses Universitaires de France: Paris.Google Scholar
Cleveland, S. E., Fisher, S., Reitman, E. E. & Rothaus, P. (1962). Perception of body size in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 7, 277–285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, M. & Simukonda, F. (1981). Anhedonia and schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 139, 523–525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crane, D. L. (1976). More violent Capgras. American Journal of Psychiatry 133, 1350.Google ScholarPubMed
Cravens, J. M., Campion, J., Rotholc, A., Covan, F. & Cravens, R. A. (1985). A study of 10 men charged with patricide. American Journal of Psychiatry 142, 1089–1092.Google ScholarPubMed
Crowder, J. E., Gross, C. A., Heiser, J. F. & Crowder, A. M. (1979). Self-mutilation of the eye. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 40, 420–423.Google ScholarPubMed
Cutting, J. (1985). The Psychology of Schizophrenia. Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Davidson, D. (1971). Mental events. In Experience and Theory (ed. Foster, L. and Swanson, J. W.), pp. 79–101. Duckworth: London.Google Scholar
De Pauw, K. W. & Szulecka, T. K. (1988). Dangerous delusions. British Journal of Psychiatry 152, 91–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
d'Orban, P. T. & O'Connor, A. (1989). Women who kill their parents. British Journal of Psychiatry 154, 27–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dougherty, F. E., Bartlett, E. S. & Izard, C. E. (1974). Responses of schizophrenics to expressions of the fundamental emotions. Journal of Clinical Psychology 30, 243–246.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enoch, M. D., Trethowan, W. H. & Barker, J. C. (1967). Some Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes. John Wright and Sons: Bristol.Google Scholar
Feffer, M. H. (1961). The influence of affective factors on conceptualization in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 63, 588–596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fishbain, D. A. (1987). The frequency of Capgras delusions in a psychiatric emergency service. Psychopathology 20, 42–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frith, C. D. (1987). The positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia reflect impairments in the perception and initiation of action. Psychological Medicine 17, 631–648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D. & Done, D. J. (1989). Experiences of alien control in schizophrenia reflect a disorder in the central monitoring of action. Psychological Medicine 19, 359–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fulford, K. W. M. (1989). Moral Theory and Medical Practice. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Garety, P. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1987). Characteristics of delusional experience. Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences 236, 294–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibbens, T. C. N. (1958). Sane and insane homicide. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 49, 110–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillies, H. (1965). Murder in the West of Scotland. British Journal of Psychiatry 111, 1087–1094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, R. L. (1987). More forensic romances: de Clérambault's syndrome in men. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 15, 267–274.Google ScholarPubMed
Gorin, M. (1964). Self-inflicted bilateral enucleation. Archives of Ophthalmology 72, 225–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, C. M. (1981). Matricide by sons. Medicine, Science and the Low 21, 207–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greilsheimer, H. & Groves, J. C. (1979). Male genital self-mutilation. Archives of General Psychiatry 36, 441–446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guthrie, E. R. (1952). The Psychology of Learning. Harper: New York.Google Scholar
Häfner, H. & Boker, W. (1973). Crimes of Violence by Mentally Abnormal Offenders. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Harrow, M., Grinker, R. R., Holzman, P. S. & Kayton, L. (1977). Anhedonia and schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 134, 794–797.Google ScholarPubMed
Hartmann, H. (1925). Self-mutilation. Jahrbuch für Psychiatrie und Neurologie 44, 31. Abstracted in Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 15, 384–386.Google Scholar
Haslam, J. (1823). Sketches in Bedlam. Sherwood, Jones and Co.: London.Google Scholar
Hemsley, D. R. & Garety, P. A. (1986). The formation and maintenance of delusions: a Bayesian analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry 149, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of Behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts: New York.Google Scholar
Hull, C. L. (1951). Essentials of Behavior. Yale University Press: New Haven.Google Scholar
Hunter, W. J. (1930). Human Behavior. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.Google Scholar
Huq, S. F., Garety, P. A. & Hemsley, D. R. (1988). Probabilistic judgements in deluded and non deluded subjects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 40A, 801–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchesson, E. A. & Volans, G. N. (1989). Unsubstantiated complaints of being poisoned. British Journal of Psychiatry 154, 34–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iscoeo, I. & Veldman, D. J. (1963). Perception of an emotional continuum by schizophrenics, normal adults and children. Journal of Clinical Psychology 19, 272–276.3.0.CO;2-V>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaspers, K. (1923). Allgemeine Pathologie. Springer: Berlin.Google Scholar
Jones, I. H. (1965). Observations on schizophrenic stereotypics. Comprehensive Psychiatry 6, 323–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonsson, C-O. & Sjöstedt, A. (1973). Auditory perception in schizophrenia: a second study of the intonation test. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 49, 588–600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kant, O. (1927). Beiträge zur Paranoiaforschung. 1. Die objektive Realitätsbedeutung des Wahns. Zeitschrift für die gesämte Neurologie und Psychiatrie 108, 625–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Glazer, W. M. & Morgenstern, H. (1983). Dimensions of delusional experience. American Journal of Psychiatry 140, 466–469.Google ScholarPubMed
Kraines, S. H. (1957). Mental Depressions and Their Treatment. Macmillan: New York.Google Scholar
Krakowski, M., Volavka, J. & Brizer, D. (1986). Psychopathology and violence: a review of literature. Comprehensive Psychiatry 27, 131–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kräupl-Taylor, F. (1983). Descriptive and developmental phenomena. In Handbook of Psychiatry, Vol. 1 (ed. Shepherd, M. and Zangwill, O. L.), pp. 59–94. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Krechevsky, I. (1932). ‘Hypotheses’ in rats. Psychological Review 39, 516–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kushner, A. W. (1967). Two cases of autocastration due to religious delusions. British Journal of Medical Psychology 40, 293–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lanzkron, J. (1963). Murder and insanity: a survey. American Journal of Psychiatry 119, 754–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leff, J., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., Everlein-Vries, R. & Sturgeon, D. (1982). A controlled trial of social intervention in the families of schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 121–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levin, H. S. & Benton, A. L. (1977). Facial recognition in ‘pseudoneurological’ patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 164, 135–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, A. J. (1941). Psychological medicine. In A Textbook of the Practice of Medicine, 6th edn (ed. Price, F. W.), pp. 1804–1893. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Lewis, N. D. C. (1928). The psychobiology of the castration reaction. Psychoanalytic Review 15, 174–209, 304–323.Google Scholar
Lin, I. F., Spiga, R. & Fortsch, W. (1979). Insight and adherence to medication in chronic schizophrenics. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 40, 430–432.Google ScholarPubMed
Lyketsos, G. C., Paterakis, P., Beis, A. & Lyketsos, C. G. (1985). Eating disorders in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 146, 255–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGinn, C. (1979). Action and its explanation. In Philosophical Problems in Psychology (ed. Bolton, N.), pp. 20–42. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
MacLean, G. & Robertson, B. (1976). Self enucleation and psychosis. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 242–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maas, R. L., Prakash, R., Hollender, M. H. & Regan, W. (1984). Double parricide – matricide and patricide: a comparison with other schizophrenic murders. Psychiatric Quarterly 56, 286–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mawson, D. (1985). Delusions of poisoning. Medicine, Science and the Law 25, 279–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1960). Clinical Psychiatry. Cassell: London.Google Scholar
Mendez, R., Kiely, W. F. & Morrow, J. E. (1972). Self emasculation. Journal of Urology 107, 981–985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milgram, N. A. (1960). Cognitive and emphatic factors in role-taking by schizophrenic and brain-damaged patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 60, 219–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, F. T. & Chabrier, L. A. (1988). Suicide attempts correlate with delusional content in major depression. Psychopathology 21, 34–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mintz, I. L. (1964). Autocannibalism: a case study. American Journal of Psychiatry 120, 1017.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mowat, R. (1966). Morbid Jealousy and Murder. Tavistock Press: London.Google Scholar
Mowrer, O. H. (1960). Learning Theory and Behaviour. Wiley: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullen, P. E. (1979). The mental state and states of mind. In Essentials of Postgraduate Psychiatry (ed. Hill, P., Murray, R. and Thorley, A.), pp. 3–36. Grune and Stratton: London.Google Scholar
Mullen, P. E. (1988). Violence and mental disorder. British Journal of Hospital Medicine 40, 460–463.Google ScholarPubMed
Papineau, D. (1978). For Science in the Social Sciences. Macmillan: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papineau, D. (1990). To every purpose under heaven. The Sunday Correspondent 6 05.Google Scholar
Planansky, K. & Johnston, R. (1977). Homicidal aggression in schizophrenic men. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 55, 65–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reich, S. S. & Cutting, J. (1982). Picture perception and abstract thought in schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine 12, 91–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roback, H. B. & Abramowitz, S. I. (1979). Insight and hospital adjustment. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 24, 233–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, G. & Taylor, P. J. (1985). Some cognitive correlates of schizophrenic illness. Psychological Medicine 15, 81–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rollin, H. R. (1977). McNaughton's madness. In Daniel McNaughton: His Trial and the Aftermath (ed. West, D. J. and Walk, A.), pp. 91–99. Gaskell: Ashford.Google Scholar
Romanik, R. L. & Snow, S. (1984). Two cases of Capgras' syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry 141, 720.Google ScholarPubMed
Rosen, D. H. & Hoffman, A. M. (1972). Focal suicide: self-enucleation by two young psychotic individuals. American Journal of Psychiatry 128, 1009–1012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schipkowensky, N. (1968). Affective disorders: cyclophrenia and murder. International Psychiatry Clinics 5, 59–75.Google ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, G. (1940). A review of the German literature on delusion between 1914 and 1939. In The Clinical Roots of the Schizophrenia Concept (ed. Cutting, J. and Shepherd, M.), pp. 104–134. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Shakow, D. (1950). Some psychological features of schizophrenia. In Feelings and Emotions (ed. Reymert, M. L.), pp. 383–390. McGraw-Hill: New York.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M. (1961). Morbid jealousy: clinical and social aspects of a psychiatric symptom. Journal of Mental Science 107, 687–753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shore, D. (1979). Self-mutilation and schizophrenia. Comprehensive Psychiatry 20, 384–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shore, D., Anderson, D. J. & Cutler, N. R. (1978). Prediction of self-mutilation in hospitalized schizophrenics. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 1406–1407.Google ScholarPubMed
Shore, D., Filson, C. R. & Johnson, W. E. (1988). Violent crime arrests and paranoid schizophrenia: the White House case studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin 14, 279–281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shore, D., Filson, C. R., Johnson, W. E., Rae, D. S., Muehrer, P., Kelley, D. J., Davis, T. S., Waldman, I. N. & Wyatt, R. J. (1989). Murder and assault arrests of White House cases: clinical and demographic correlates of violence subsequent to civil commitment. American Journal of Psychiatry 146, 645–651.Google ScholarPubMed
Shubsachs, A. P. W. & Young, A. (1988). Dangerous delusions: the ‘Hollywood phenomenon’. British Journal of Psychiatry 152, 722.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silva, J. A., Leong, G. B., Weinstock, R. & Boyer, C. L. (1989). Capgras syndrome and dangerousness. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 17, 5–14.Google ScholarPubMed
Spence, K. W. (1956). Behaviour Theory and Conditioning. Yale University Press: New Haven.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiegel, D. E., Gerard, R. M., Grayson, H. M. & Gengerelli, J. A. (1962). Reactions of chronic schizophrenic patients and college students to facial expressions and geometric forms. Journal of Clinical Psychology 18, 386–402.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Standage, K. F., Moore, J. A. & Cole, M. G. (1974). Self-mutilation of the genitalia by a female schizophrenic. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 19, 17–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweeney, S. & Zamecnik, K. (1981). Predictors of self-mutilation in patients with schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 138, 1086–1089.Google Scholar
Tapper, C. M., Bland, R. C. & Danyluk, L. (1979). Self inflicted eye injuries and self-inflicted blindness. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 167. 311–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, C. (1964). The Explanation of Behaviour. Routledge: London.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. J. (1985). Motives for offending among violent and psychotic men. British Journal of Psychiatry 147, 491–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, P., Mahendra, B. & Gunn, J. (1983). Erotomania in males. Psychological Medicine 13, 645–650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomison, A. R. & Donovan, W. M. (1988). Dangerous delusions: the ‘Hollywood phenomenon’. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 404–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tenzer, J. A. & Orozco, H. (1970). Traumatic glossectomy. Oral Surgery 30, 182–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner, J. B. (1964). Schizophrenics as judges of vocal expressions of emotional meaning. In The Communication of Emotional Meaning (ed. Davitz, J. R.), pp. 129–142. McGraw-Hill: New York.Google Scholar
Van Putten, T., Crumpton, E. & Yale, C. (1976). Drug refusal in schizophrenia and the wish to be crazy. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 1443–1446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varsamis, J., Adamson, J. D. & Sigurdson, W. F. (1972). Schizophrenics with delusions of poisoning. British Journal of Psychiatry 121, 673–675.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976). The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychiatric illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 129, 125–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Virkkunen, M. (1974). On arson committed by schizophrenics. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 50, 152–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, C. G., Jacobs, L. & Kucala, T. (1979). A note on the pathology of anhedonia. Journal of Clinical Psychology 35, 740–743.3.0.CO;2-G>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waugh, A. C. (1986). Autocastration and biblical delusions in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 149, 656–659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weckowicz, T. E. & Sommer, R. (1960). Body image and self concept in schizophrenia. Journal of Mental Science 106, 17–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinstock, R. (1976). Capgras syndrome: a case involving violence. American Journal of Psychiatry 133, 855.Google Scholar
Westermeyer, J. & Serpass, A. (1972). A third case of self-enucleation. American Journal of Psychiatry 129, 484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Witherspoon, C. D., Feist, F. W., Morris, R. E. & Feist, R. M. (1989). Ocular self-mutilation. Annals of Ophthalmology 21, 255–259.Google ScholarPubMed
Yang, H. K., Brown, G. C. & Magargal, L. E. (1981). Self-inflicted ocular mutilation. American Journal of Ophthalmology 91, 658–663.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed