ABSTRACT
A young girl suffered from an insidious type of hebephrenia. She was suspicious and negativistic, showing various signs of the onset of delusion-formation, but so far she had not developed any delusional system. Her suspicions were directed in particular towards the possibility that others might defraud her or steal from her. The patient admitted to possessing a so-called 'dreambook', which she consulted as to the portents of her dreams. One morning she awakened from a dream in which she had been wearing a watch on a gold chain round her neck. After thus demonstrating how particularly reliable her memory was, also arranged by the patient's unconscious, could the more readily appear to be due to theft. Instead of arousing the suspicion of a theft, the patient arranged for the possibility of being robbed. The persistence with which she committed the mistakes resembles the tenacity with which she and other patients like her cling to the idea of being persecuted.
