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Descent from Descent - Symptoms, Causes and Therapy
A delusion pathologically distorts reality, and those affected cling to their twisted vision with absolute conviction, even though their perception is in opposition to objective reality, to their own life experience and to the judgment of friends and acquaintances.
contents
- The delusion of high descent
- Identity and fear
- symptoms
- The Wahner life
- diagnosis
- therapy
Mad adults often refuse to test their judgments at all. They need and want no justification and often look down contemptuously upon those who have not understood "the truth". "It is so", and those who doubt it with the best of reasons, the delusional is either stupid or as a liar.
In the case of a delusion of delusion, those affected believe that they are e.g. descended from nobles and this fact is kept secret. (Image: lassedesignen / fotolia.com) Those affected relate external events to themselves, even natural phenomena such as rain or sunshine, but also conversations whose subject matter is completely different, glances or scraps of words, texts on billboards, quotes in television shows etc ...
Descent to delusion describes a mental disorder in which the patients regard themselves as the descendants of famous figures in world history. Someone manipulated, according to the delusional, their pedigree, and presented their relatives in the real world as a delusion. This form of delusion is not an independent classification but an expression of psychosis and usually appears in schizophrenic patients.
The delusion of high descent
Eugen Bleuler described in 1916 the "delusion of high descent". According to Bleuler, those affected believed they were of royal origin; and somebody put her under her everyday parents.
Bleuler realized that in the modern age this delusion diminished, because the capitalist society made descent from the high nobility less desirable. Today, this form of delusion in Germany is considered a rare phenomenon during schizophrenia, whereas it occurs much more frequently in cultures where descent plays a role.
Whether fantasy in the esoteric scene, to have been an important person in a previous life, belongs to the delusion of descent, has not been sufficiently explored.
In addition, the delusion can only be described as a delusion if it is against widespread ideas, even if they can not scientifically hold. For example, many Muslims, far from historical facts, claim to be related to Mohammed over many corners. But this does not necessarily take on delusional features, especially if this "knowledge" is passed on as "family secret".
Fraud attempts do not fall under the delusion: politicians, for example, who, in order to elevate themselves, refer to an invented descent, but know that they are lying, are not schizophrenics, but liars.
The descent delusion is considered a form of megalomania. It occurs not only in schizophrenic patients but also in bipolar patients. These believe in their manic phases, to have a special meaning, and that includes being more than other people rightly concede to them: a Catholic-socialized Bipolarer, for example, in a mania addressed the inhabitants of a northern German town to them to convert and believed he was St. Francis.
Still prevalent today, and seen in the esoteric scene as "higher cognition," the delusion is that it is not descended from famous figures of history, but belongs to a secret circle of magicians, witches, or priests. "Reincarnation Seminars", "Contacts with the Hereafter" etc. confirm them in these fantasies.
The delusional element often does not appear pure here, but is confirmed by a group of like-minded people. The boundary between religious delusion, megalomania and descent from descent can only be drawn in theory. Like delusions of descent, religious delusion also occurs mainly in paranoid schizophrenia.
Identity and fear
On the one hand, delusions of descent can be explained culturally: In almost all societies, descent plays an essential role in the status that a person enjoys. In many cultures, it is still impossible today to be able to take certain professions without the appropriate origin.
The fairy-tale character of the princess, who grows up among poor people, is therefore also a classic motif of the narrative, because it reflects the hope of the underprivileged for a better life.
For paranoid schizophrenics, however, another cause is obvious. Their identities are disturbed, and they do not know that the voices they hear are their hallucinated smells, sounds and images from their own psyche. The supposed descent reflects split-off aspects of her emotional landscapes.
Believing in belonging to a secret priestly caste, being part of an inner circle, or carrying an extreme knowledge also serves to compensate for the real powerlessness and to regain a lost control over one's own life. Today, for example, vampire subcultures are widespread, with devotees imagining themselves as mighty beings from another world. This is accompanied by mental disorders that are also widespread in this scene: borderline, traumatization, attachment disorders or bipolarity.
While an individual's obsession with descent conflicts with its environment, the same delusion in a group can relieve anxiety. Those affected then feel that they are part of an elite that promises them protection and at the same time secludes them to the outside world.
In schizophrenics, the isolation is added. Because of their illness, their social contacts break down, and the fictitious lineage, such as (self-) conversations with the ancestors, satisfies the need to be part of a group.
symptoms
If someone is totally convinced that they are descended from someone else than from their parents, without there being any real evidence, it is likely that he or she is suffering from descent from descent. For example, if the victims claim that their passport is fake or find bizarre "signs" for their "real origins", the suspicion becomes more intense.
The more those close to them call their delusion a delusion, the more the person concerned is convinced that they are right. Analogous to conspiracy delusion, in which all critics are part of the conspiracy, here too, those who want to put the sick on their feet, as enemies or ignorant.
For example, if parents demonstrate the lunacy of construction, then those affected believe they want to keep their true identity a secret or even consider themselves the one who snatched the child from the true parent.
Diseased people usually suspect that a particular event is behind their "hidden identity". At one point, she avoided a rival for the throne, but dared not kill her; once, as a child, confidants brought her to safety for terrible things - for example, patients may believe that they were descended from the Russian tsar's family. Servants then hid their ancestors so that the Communists would not murder them.
The Wahner life
Parenting delusion manifests itself in various ways: It usually begins with a delusional mood. Those affected feel that something is "not right". Their parents seem to be hiding something from them, strange things happen that patients do not understand. The patients feel that "something" happens, but they do not know what it is.
The concerned expect with fear that something will happen, they behave suspiciously, they are easily irritated and anxious, they seem oppressed, some become aggressive.
Then, as a rule, delusional perceptions follow. Those affected interpret events of everyday life in their own way, which is obvious to no one else. They see reality, but misinterpret it. For example, a report about Hillary Clinton can increase the sense of being related to her. Neighbors tell each other something, and for the delusional they talk about how they kept their true identity a secret.
The delusion is the sudden "enlightenment." Now it falls to those affected like scales from the eyes of who they really are. This scar on the chin, which always indicated that it was descended from Charlemagne. Why was the patient not noticed this before?.
The delusion goes hand in hand with an increasing arrogance towards the "others" who just do not have this perspective, and continue their "miserable life".
Objective reality and delusion can also stand side by side. For example, those suffering from descent could readily work in psychiatry, gardening, and at the same time be convinced that they were descended from Napoleon.
There is a particular danger when delusion and reality flow into one another, for example when the victims go to parties at night and believe that they are a descendant of Christian martyrs and act accordingly. For example, if the club is owned by the Hell's Angels, it can have dire consequences.
In everyday life, it confuses the patients. They fight for what is real. Even more, some people are frozen with fear, some even hurt themselves.
Then there are sufferers who easily master their everyday lives, but are nevertheless convinced of their grandiose descent.
diagnosis
Once affected by the therapist or psychiatrist, they make the diagnosis by examining delusional symptoms and delineating the delusions of delusion from other delusions. You then see which underlying disease is underlying the symptoms. Most of them are paranoid schizophrenia. Rarely does the parental delusion appear as an isolated symptom.
therapy
Patients who have delusions of descent are extremely difficult to treat. First, they believe in their fantasies, and secondly, the idea of being descended from a higher-order family has an identity-building effect.
A psychotherapy can work out and meet the underlying reasons. Image: WavebreakmediaMicro - fotolia The delusion is subjectively part of their personality, and without delusion they lose it. Conventional psychotherapy usually proves to be useless because it requires the insight of those affected and their admission to being ill.
Medications are useful because they reduce the symptoms of the underlying disease. Primarily antipsychotics serve this purpose. Although these only attenuate individual symptoms, at the same time the entire clinical picture improves.
It is not possible to completely heal the delusion of descent if it is based on schizophrenia, because schizophrenia also has genetic causes.
Therapists must engage with the specific perception of the delusional and never directly question their construction of reality. Then they withdraw from every conversation. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)