:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 ::

An Analytic view of delusion

In psychiatry, delusions are classically defined as abnormal beliefs which satisfy the following criteria:3 '(i) they are held with absolute conviction; (ii) they are experienced as self-evident truths, usually of great importance; (iii) they are not amenable to reason, or modifiable by experience; (iv) their content is often fantastic or at best inherently unlikely; (v) the beliefs are not shared by those of a common social or cultural background'.

why is mass delusion (i.e. mythologies)--criteria v--not considered delusion? Just because more than one person holds the same belief doesn't mean it can't meet all the other criteria. Is it simply because it is understood that when one attempts to pry open the beliefs a person has about a myth or religion one finds that two people seldom have the same view; even people who have been specifically trained in that belief?

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2003 11:00:00 PM [+] ::
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