Karen, I want you to listen carefully… there is no such pathology in professional psychology called “parental alienation” – it is not a real pathology in professional psychology. Delusional grandiosity is a symptom feature of narcissistic pathology.ĭSM-5 Criterion 1: “Has a grandiose sense of self-importance” Okay, final question, Karen… what are the main types of pathology that have grandiose delusions as a symptom feature?Īnswer… ready?… there’s mania, a grandiose delusion would be considered a “mood congruent” psychotic feature of mania, and… that’s right, Karen, narcissistic personality disorder. A false belief in being special, in being superior or above other – ordinary people – that someone has “special” talents or knowledge beyond that of other people is called a grandiose delusion. If the person has a fixed and false belief, a delusion, the content of which is that they are inventing some sort of great and marvelous new invention or making some sort of historic “new discoveries,” what – TYPE – of delusion is that? You can go ahead and think about that one for a moment.

It is a fixed and false belief that is maintained despite contrary evidence, that’s the definition of a delusion in professional psychology. But the person ignores the evidence, the person goes into sort of fingers-in-the-ears la-la-la denial, and the person continues to insist that they are actually making these wonderful “new discoveries” that have already been discovered, despite being presented with the contrary evidence… is that a delusion? So the person’s belief that they are making great and grand new discoveries or inventing wonderful new inventions, well, it’s not true, it’s a false belief.Īnd then, the person is shown the contrary evidence, they are shown that someone else has already invented the things or made the discoveries, and there’s evidence that this is a false belief. Other people have already invented the stuff or made the discoveries. Say you have this person who thinks that they’re inventing something that will save the world, or that they’re making some earth-shattering new “discovery” but then it turns out that it’s not true. So here, let me give you a clinical application scenario and see how you do.

The Symptom: A fixed and false belief that is maintained despite contrary evidence. I’ll describe the symptom and you give me the clinical term. You’re a mental health person, right? So you should know symptom terms and definitions. Karen Woodall, you assert that you are an “expert”… I have a quiz for you.

DSM-5 Narcissistic Personality Disorder Criterion 1: “Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).”

The Grand Delusion by Heath Sommer