Grandiose delusions
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Grandiose delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur is principally a subtype of delusional disorder that occurs in patients suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses, including two-thirds of patients in manic state of bipolar disorder, half of those with schizophrenia and a substantial portion of those with substance abuse disorders.[1][2] GDs are characterized by fantastical beliefs that one is famous, omnipotent, wealthy, or otherwise very powerful. The delusions are generally fantastic and typically have a supernatural, science-fictional, or religious theme. There is a relative lack of research into GD, in comparison to persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations. About 10% of healthy people experience grandiose thoughts but do not meet full criteria for a diagnosis of GD.
Symptoms
According to the
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for delusional disorder, grandiose type symptoms include grossly
exaggerated belief of:
- self-worth
- power[5]
- knowledge
- identity
- or exceptional relationship to a divinity or famous person.[6]
For example, if the patient has fictitious beliefs about one’s power or authority he or she may believe himself or herself to be the ruling monarch, deserving to be treated like royalty.
[7] There are substantial differences in the degree of grandiosity linked with grandiose delusions in different patients. Some patients could believe they are God, the Queen of England, the President's son, a famous rock star, and so on. Others are not as expansive and think they are skilled sports-persons or great inventors.
[8]
[edit]Expansive delusions
Expansive delusions may be maintained by
auditory hallucinations, which advise the patient that they are significant, or
confabulations, when, for example, the patient gives a thorough description of their
coronation or marriage to the king. Grandiose and expansive delusions may also be part of fantastic hallucinosis in which all forms of hallucinations occur.
[8]
[edit]Positive functions
Grandiose delusions frequently serve a very positive function for the person of sustaining or increasing their
self-esteem. As a result, it is important to consider what the consequences of removing the grandiose delusion are on self-esteem when trying to modify the grandiose delusion in therapy.
[5] In many instances of grandiosity it is suitable to go for a fractional rather than a total modification, which permits those elements of the delusion that are central for self-esteem to be preserved. For example, a man who believes he is a senior secret service agent gains a great sense of self-esteem and purpose from this belief, thus until this sense of self-esteem can be provided from elsewhere, it is best not to attempt modification.
[5]
[edit]Accounts of delusion
There are two alternative accounts for getting grandiose delusions:
[9]
- Delusion-as-defense account: defense of the mind against lower self-esteem and depression
- Emotion-consistent account: result of exaggerated emotions.
[edit]Epidemiology
In researching over 1000 individuals of vast backgrounds, Stompe and colleagues (2006) found that grandiosity remains as the second most common delusion after persecutory delusions.
[2] A variation in the occurrence of grandiosity delusions in schizophrenic patients across cultures has also been observed.
[10][11] In research done by Appelbaum
et al. it has been found that GDs appeared more commonly in patients with bipolar disorder (59%) than in patients with schizophrenia (49%), followed by presence in substance misuse disorder patients (30%) and depressed patients (21%).
[2]
A relationship has been claimed between the age of onset of bipolar disorder and the occurrence of GDs. According to Carlson
et al. (2000), grandiose delusions appeared in 74% of the patients who were 21 or lower at the time of the onset, while they occurred only in 40% of individuals 30 years or older at the time of the onset.
[2]
[edit]Diagnosis
In diagnosing delusions, the MacArthur-Maudsley Assessment of Delusions Schedule is used to assess the patient.
[21]
[edit]Comorbidity
[edit]Schizophrenia
Main article:
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder distinguished by a loss of contact with reality and the occurrence of
psychotic behaviors, including
hallucinations and delusions (unreal beliefs which endure even when there is contrary evidence).
[22] Delusions may include the false and constant idea that the person is being followed or poisoned, or that the person’s thoughts are being broadcast for others to listen to. Delusions in schizophrenia often develop as a response to the individual attempting to explain their hallucinations.
[22] Patients who experience recurrent auditory hallucinations can develop the delusion that other people are scheming against them and are dishonest when they say they do not hear the voices that the delusioned person argues to hear.
[22]
Specifically, grandiose delusions are frequently found predominantly in
paranoid schizophrenia, in which a person has an extremely exaggerated sense of his or her significance, personality, knowledge, or authority. For example, the person may possibly declare to own IBM and kindly offer to write a hospital staff member a check for $5 million if they would only help them escape from the hospital.
[23] Other common grandiose delusions in schizophrenia include religious delusions such as the belief that one is Jesus Christ.
[24] A 2012 paper suggested that psychiatric conditions associated with psychotic spectrum symptoms, that may include grandiose delusions, may be possible explanations for revelatory driven experiences and activities such as those of
Abraham,
Moses,
Jesus and
Saint Paul.
[25]
[edit]Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is severe affective dysregulation, or mood states that sway from exceedingly low (depression) to exceptionally high (
mania).
[26] Bipolar patients with grandiose delusions are essentially high on themselves. If they convey any feelings of aggravation at all, these at most characterize secondary anxiety that others will be jealous of them and hold them back from getting what they are entitled to, or seize what they already have.
[27]
Bipolar patients experience delusion during the worse part of their illness. Typically, when experiencing or displaying a stage of heightened excitability, joy, rage, senselessness, and correlated phenomena they might convey thoughts or beliefs that are grandiose in nature. Some of these grandiose beliefs frequently involve thoughts that the patient is very rich or famous or has super human abilities, etc.
[28] In the most severe form, known as psychotic mania, the bipolar patient may hear voices and have grandiose delusions such as "I am the King of England".
[29]
Anatomical aspects
Treatment
Patients suffering from
schizophrenia, grandiose and religious delusions are found to be the least susceptible to cognitive behavioral interventions.
[21]Cognitive behavioral intervention is a form of psychological therapy, initially used for
depression,
[31] but currently used for a variety of different mental disorders, in hope of providing relief from distress and disability.
[32] During therapy, grandiose delusions were linked to patients' underlying beliefs by using inference chaining.
[31][33] Some examples of interventions performed to improve the patient's state were focus on specific themes, clarification of
neologisms, and thought linkage.
[33] During thought linkage, the patient is asked repeatedly by the therapist to explain his/her jumps in thought from one subject, to a completely different one.
[33]
Patients suffering from mental disorders that experience grandiose delusions have been found to have a lower risk of having
suicidal thoughts and attempts.
[34]
