Pure Pedantry : Cognitive Elements of Delusions

Reality is always more complicated than you think.

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Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

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Cognitive Elements of Delusions

Category: Mental Health • Neuroscience
Posted on: November 27, 2006 11:31 PM, by Jake Young

Mind Hacks covers an article in the Financial Times about delusions and how brain damage affects cognition:

Some researchers have argued that this is the basis of a similarly curious syndrome, known as Capgras delusion, where someone believes that their friend, spouse or relative has been replaced by a near-identical looking impostor.
In Capgras delusion, it is thought that the same problem with automatic emotional response is present, but that the person attributes the problem to external changes in the world ("it's something to do with my wife...") and reasoning problems lead to the delusion itself ("...and she's been replaced by an impostor").

In contrast, one theory of Cotard delusion is that it might be partly caused by the same emotional response impairment, but where the person attributes it to an internal change ("it's a problem with me...") with reasoning problems leading to the delusional belief ("...and the problem is, I'm dead").

Super cool. Read the whole thing.