ABSTRACT
Delusions occur in a number of different diagnostic categories. In schizophrenia, where there is a withdrawal of energy from the external world, auditory hallucinations and diminished social and occupational functioning often go hand in hand with fixed delusional ideas. People with delusional beliefs and schizophrenic thought become mired in their own misconceptions and misperceptions, burrowing further into a rigid solipsistic orientation towards life. Psychological energy is withdrawn from the external world of people and things and focused on the internal delusional reality. The delusional or schizophrenic person is trying to make sense of the world he lives in. He may do it in bizarre ways, but there is a logic to delusions, if one spends enough time exploring them. A delusion is a creative compromise, albeit unrecognised, on the patient’s part. It contains the encoded message; undeciphered, it wreaks havoc and destruction in the mind and being of the delusional person.
