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Delusions as harmful malfunctioning beliefs.

Kengo Miyazono1

  • 1University of Birmingham, 144 European Research Institute Building, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.

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Summary

Pathological delusions are distinguished from false or irrational beliefs. This study argues that delusions are pathological due to harmful dysfunctions impacting well-being and failing psychological mechanisms.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Delusional beliefs are typically pathological, a state distinct from mere falsity or irrationality.
  • Examples include beliefs arising from brain damage or schizophrenia, unlike everyday false or irrational beliefs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the negative features that define pathological delusions.
  • To critically examine existing proposals for what makes delusions pathological.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of counterexamples and theoretical problems for existing proposals.
  • Application of Wakefield's harmful dysfunction analysis of disorder.

Main Results:

  • Existing proposals (strangeness, extreme irrationality, resistance to explanation, impaired responsibility) face theoretical challenges.
  • Delusional beliefs are argued to be pathological because they represent harmful dysfunctions.

Conclusions:

  • Pathological delusions involve significant negative impacts on well-being (harmful) and failures in psychological mechanisms (malfunctioning).
  • Objections regarding defense functions or sufficiency of harmful malfunction for pathology are addressed and rejected.