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The term '[[delusion]]' ([[French]]: ''[[{{Top}}délire]]'') is used in [[psychiatry]] to describe a firmly held [[false]] [[belief]], inconsistent with the information available and with the beliefs of the subject's social group.{{Bottom}}

[[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]] 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]] 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]] emphasizes the significance ==Other of the [[delusion]] and stresses the importance of attending closely to the [[psychosis|psychotic]] [[patient]]'s own account of his [[delusion]]. Other==The [[delusionparanoid]] 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]] [[delusionconstruction]]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. Delusion : Psychosis linked to a psychopathologic organisation of the personality manifested by troubles of perception and by the production of delirious ideas. [[Délire]], illusion : Conviction erronée basée sur des conclusions fausses tirées des données de la réalité extérieure, maintenue bien que tous les autres individus pensent différemment (hallucinations).

 ==See Also==</div>