Editing Delusion (section)

{{Short description|Fixation of holding false beliefs}}
{{Other uses}}
{{See also|Delusional disorder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
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A '''delusion'''{{Efn|From [[Latin]] ''delusio'' {{lit|deceiving}}, from ''deludere'' {{gloss|to mock, to deceive}}<ref>{{OEtymD|delusion}}</ref>}} is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence.<ref name=Delusions_in_dsm5>{{cite web|url=http://imperfectcognitions.blogspot.com/2013/06/delusions-in-dsm-5.html|title=Delusions in the DSM 5|date=7 June 2013|website=Imperfect Cognitions| vauthors = Bortolotti L |author-link=Lisa Bortolotti}}</ref> As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, [[confabulation]], [[dogma]], [[illusion]], [[hallucination]], or some other misleading effects of [[perception]], as individuals with those beliefs ''are'' able to change or readjust their beliefs upon reviewing the evidence. However:

"The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity."<ref name=Delusions_in_dsm5/>

Delusions have been found to occur in the context of many pathological states (both general physical and mental) and are of particular diagnostic importance in [[psychosis|psychotic]] disorders including [[schizophrenia]], [[paraphrenia]], [[Mania|manic]] episodes of [[bipolar disorder]],<ref>{{cite journal | last=Dunayevich | first=Eduardo | last2=Keck | first2=Paul E. | title=Prevalence and description of psychotic features in bipolar mania | journal=[[Current Psychiatry Reports]] | volume=2 | issue=4 | date=2000 | issn=1523-3812 | doi=10.1007/s11920-000-0069-4 | pages=286–290}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bergen |first=Annet H. van |last2=Verkooijen |first2=Sanne |last3=Vreeker |first3=Annabel |last4=Abramovic |first4=Lucija |last5=Hillegers |first5=Manon H. |last6=Spijker |first6=Annet T. |last7=Hoencamp |first7=Erik |last8=Regeer |first8=Eline J. |last9=Knapen |first9=Stefan E. |last10=Lek |first10=Rixt F. Riemersma-van der |last11=Schoevers |first11=Robert |last12=Stevens |first12=Anja W. |last13=Schulte |first13=Peter F. J. |last14=Vonk |first14=Ronald |last15=Hoekstra |first15=Rocco |year=2019 |title=The characteristics of psychotic features in bipolar disorder |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/characteristics-of-psychotic-features-in-bipolar-disorder/0B66A67B9F8629FCDD65420A389A3C37 |journal=[[Psychological Medicine]] |language=en |volume=49 |issue=12 |pages=2036–2048 |doi=10.1017/S0033291718002854 |issn=0033-2917}}</ref> and [[psychotic depression]].