Delusions are health disorders characterized by fake beliefs, which are far away from the reality. Also known as paranoid disorder, delusion can occur with a number of dominant themes such as jealous, erotomanic, somatic, or grandiose themes. Few patients experience different kinds of delusions, whereas others undergo unspecified delusions without any dominant theme.
Chronic delusional disorders often interfere with our social life but do not have much effect on our occupational or intellectual functioning. For instance, believing that someone is possessed by spirits may be accepted by some people who believe n Pentecostalism or Voodooism, but others would view this as a delusion. Another example of a delusion is believing that you are captain of Australian Cricket Team when actually you are not.
People who suffer from delusions hold them with full conviction and it becomes extremely difficult for carers to alter their delusion by presenting facts or using reasoning or logic with them.
Major Causes of Delusional Disorders
One of the most important causes behind delusion disorder is presence of certain early childhood experiences related to authoritarian family structure. This means that a person with a sensitive personality is more likely to suffer from delusions in comparison to others.
Besides this, some medical conditions such as aging, deafness, chronic alcoholism, or head injury can also increase the risk of a person developing delusional disorder. Sometimes, the irrational belief of people caused due to delusions can post a huge threat to others around him, as well as himself. The greater the rage of the patient, more will be the risk of suicide or violent behavior.
Caring for People with Delusion Disorder
If someone in your family or someone around you is suffering from delusion disorder, there are certain things that can be done to help him / her.
• Arrange to get the patient's medications reviewed and organize to get his / her mental health assessment done.
• The cultural background of a person plays an extremely important role in shaping the way in which symptoms of mental disorder are expressed. Thus, it is very important to take the background of a person into account while formulating the care plan for a delusion patient.
• When carrying out initial assessment, encourage the patient to describe his / her delusion and ask any relevant question related to the delusion to obtain the required details.
• Try to validate all parts of the described delusion which are real. For instance, according to the situation, one might say, 'Yes, I saw the doctor at the nurse's station, but I didn't hear him speak about you.
• Do not try to force the person to believe that what he / she is thinking is incorrect. Instead, respect his / her viewpoint, irrespective of whether you agree with it or not. Also, provide your own understanding of the situation and discuss patiently with him / her.
• Even if a patient directs accuses at you, do not take it personally.
• Try to recognize the triggers leading to delusions such as anxiety, stress, or some other emotion.
• Promote the techniques of solving the problem by helping the patient figure out ways through which he / she can cope up with issues that are causing the delusions.
• Encourage the patient to participate as much as possible in related based activities.
Over time and as the person suffering from delusions realizes this they will often learn techniques to cope with them and mentally push them away. From a Carer's point of view it would be helpful if information groups can be found in the area and either/or or preferably both (not necessarily together) go to these groups to get an understanding of what delusions are, how people cope with them and get some medical advice.
Kaye Dennan is the author of an ebook 'Carer Coping Strategies'. Kaye has been a carer for 10 years and has been a Carers' Support group facilitator for 3 years. To read more about mental health carer's coping strategies or for more insight into mental health carer problems visit http://schizophrenia-carers.com/
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