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Delusion, the overvalued idea and religious beliefs: A comparative analysis of their characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Edgar Jones  and
J. P. Watson
Edgar Jones*
Affiliation:
UMDS Division of Psychiatry, Guy s Hospital, London
J. P. Watson
Affiliation:
UMDS Division of Psychiatry, Guy s Hospital, London
*
Dr Edgar Jones, Division of Psychiatry, UMDS, Guy's Hospital, London SEI 9RT
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Abstract

Background

The study sought to investigate the form of the delusion in schizophrenia and the overvalued idea in anorexia, employing a range of belief characteristics to discover whether differences could be detected between them, and how they stood in general relationship to the religious beliefs of normals.

Method

A belief rating scale was devised with 12 characteristics, and completed by 20 schizophrenics, 20 anorectics, and 20 normal controls. Comparisons were drawn between populations using the Mann-Whitney test, and different types of belief were contrasted within diagnostic groups using each subject as their own control by repeated-measures MANOVA.

Results

The schizophrenic delusion was differentiated from the overvalued idea in anorexia by a number of variables, which also served to distinguish both phenomena from religious beliefs held by normals. The schizophrenic delusion exhibited many of the qualities of an initial (or observational) belief, when its content suggested that it should manifest those of a derived belief. The anorectic overvalued idea, although occasionally an initial belief in terms of its content, was typically held in the form of a derived belief.

Conclusions

A wider range of characteristics is required to define all the differences between delusion and the overvalued idea, and these have implications for belief modification programmes.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 170 , Issue 4 , April 1997 , pp. 381 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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