Read the following Case-Study and answer the questions that follow.
Vijay graduated from college and got a job at a local grocery store. After working for six months he began to hear voices of people hatching a plan to poison him. He stopped eating and drinking anything in the shop as he felt it tasted bitter and looked green in colour. He reported smelling strange odour in the shop. He would take long winding detours on his way home as he felt people were following him. He told his family that the supervisor was against him and would one day burn down the shop in an attempt to kill him. One day he slapped a customer and swore that someone else made him slap him using his hand. No evidence was found to support his allegations.
A delusion is defined as _______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A false belief firmly held on inadequate grounds
Option (1) A false belief firmly held on inadequate grounds — Correct. A delusion is a false belief that is firmly held on inadequate grounds. It is not affected by rational argument and has no basis in reality. Vijay’s belief that people are plotting to poison him, with no evidence to support it, is one.
Option (2) Perceptions that occur in the absence of stimuli — Incorrect. This is the meaning of a hallucination, a false perception, such as hearing voices when no one is speaking. A delusion is a false belief, not a false perception.
Option (3) Shifting from one topic to another — Incorrect. Rapidly shifting from one topic to another, so that thinking becomes muddled and illogical, is a formal thought disorder called loosening of associations or derailment. It is a fault in the way a person thinks and speaks, not a belief.
Option (4) Inability to start or complete an activity — Incorrect. This describes avolition, apathy and an inability to start or complete a course of action. It is a negative symptom, a deficit of behaviour, not a false belief.
NCERT (2025-26): “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … Positive symptoms are ‘pathological excesses’ or ‘bizarre additions’ to a person’s behaviour. Delusions, disorganised thinking and speech, heightened perception and hallucinations, and inappropriate affect are the ones most often found in schizophrenia. Many people with schizophrenia develop delusions. A delusion is a false belief that is firmly held on inadequate grounds. It is not affected by rational argument, and has no basis in reality. Delusions of persecution are the most common in schizophrenia. People with this delusion believe that they are being plotted against, spied on, slandered, threatened, attacked or deliberately victimised.…” “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … These include rapidly shifting from one topic to another so that the normal structure of thinking is muddled and becomes illogical (loosening of associations, derailment), inventing new words or phrases (neologisms), and persistent and inappropriate repetition of the same thoughts (perseveration).…” “…People with schizophrenia may have hallucinations, i.e. perceptions that occur in the absence of external stimuli.…” “Symptoms of Schizophrenia … Also patients with schizophrenia experience avolition, or apathy and an inability to start or complete a course of action.…” |