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[[Delusion]]s are usually defined in [[psychiatry]] as firmly held, incorrigible [[false ]] beliefs, inconsistent with the information available with the beliefs of the [[subject]]'s [[social ]] group.  [[Delusion]]s are the central [[clinical]] feature of [[paranoia]], and can range from single [[ideas ]] to [[complex ]] networks of [[belief]]s.

In [[Lacan]]ian [[terms]], the [[paranoiac]] [[lack]]s the [[Name-of-the-Father]], and the [[delusion]] is the [[paranoiac]]'s attempt to fill the [[hole]] [[left ]] in his [[symbolic|symbolic universe]] by the [[absence]] of this primordial [[signifier]]. Thus the [[delusion]] is not the "[[illness]]" of [[paranoia]] itself, but rather, the [[paranoiac]]'s attempt to heal himself, to pull himself out of the breakdown of the [[symbolic|symbolic universe]] by means of a [[substitute formation]].

Thus the [[delusion]] is not the "illness" of [[paranoia]] itself, but rather, the [[paranoiac]]'s attempt to heal himself, to pull himself out of the breakdown of the [[symbolic|symbolic universe]] by means of a [[substitute formation]].  As [[Freud]] commented in his [[work ]] on [[Schreber]]:<blockquote>"What we take to be the pathological production, the delusional [[formation]], is in [[reality ]] the attempt at recovery, the reconstruction."<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides)]]," 1911c: [[SE]] XII, 71</ref></blockquote>

[[Lacan]] insists on the [[significance ]] of the [[delusion]] and stresses the importance of attending closely to the [[psychosis|psychotic]] [[patient]]'s own account of his [[delusion]].   The [[delusion]] is a [[form ]] of [[discourse]], and must therefore be [[understood ]] as "a field of [[signification]] that has organised a certain [[signifier]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 121</ref>   For this [[reason ]] all [[delusion]]al phenomena are "clarified in reference to the functions and [[structure ]] of [[speech]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 310</ref>

The [[paranoid]] [[delusion]]al [[construction ]] may take many forms. One common form, the "delusion of [[persecution]]," revolves around the [[Other of the Other]], a hidden [[subject]] who pulls the strings of the [[big Other]] (the [[symbolic]] [[order]]), and who controls our [[thoughts]], conspires against us, watches us, etc.