Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-nwzlb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T10:21:47.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A social and clinical study of delusions in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

C. J. Lucas
Affiliation:
Student Health Service, University College, London, W.C.1; formerly Senior Registrar, Medical Research Council Clinical Psychiatry Research Unit, Graylingwell Hospital, Chichester, Sussex
Peter Sainsbury
Affiliation:
Research Unit, Graylingwell Hospital
Joyce G. Collins
Affiliation:
Research Unit, Graylingwell Hospital

Extract

Many studies show that incidence and prevalence rates of schizophrenia are related to the social characteristics of the patient's environment; hypotheses—such as that of social isolation—have been invoked to account for the association, but for the most part remain unconfirmed. That the symptoms of schizophrenia or that the clinical form of the illness may also be affected by environmental factors is less clearly established. Nevertheless, some interesting observations have been made, by Benedict and Jacks (1954) and by Yap (1951) for example. Sherman and Sherman's (1934) study of delusions in a mixed American population is probably the most detailed investigation of this kind. They found that American men formulated their grandiose delusions in terms of wealth; foreign-born males did so more often in terms of literary or artistic abilities; and in negroes a religious component tended to predominate. White women were less grandiose and more paranoid than men; but in negro women the reverse was found. Hallucinations were more common in women than in men, and far more common among negroes than whites. Somatic delusions were found more frequently in white than in negro families.

Type
Social Psychiatry
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1962 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benedict, P. K., and Jacks, I. (1954). Psychiatry, 17, 377.Google Scholar
Lambo, T. A. (1955). J. Ment. Sci., 101, 239.Google Scholar
Registrar-General (1955). Statistical Review of England and Wales, 1950–51. Supplement on General Morbidity, Cancer, and Mental Health.Google Scholar
Sherman, M., and Sherman, I. C. (1934). In Bentley, M., and Cowdray, E. V., The Problem of Mental Disorder. New York and London.Google Scholar
Tooth, G. (1950). Colon. Res. Publ., No. 6.Google Scholar
Yap, P. M. (1951). J. Ment. Sci., 97, 401.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.