Accusation = Harm?

This evening was the video presentation session of psychosis in our class. Dr. Wee has shown us two videos on schizophrenic patient and we were to analyse the presentation / manifestation of psychotic problem in the patient during their one-on-one interview with the doctor.

I have to admit (sadly & with guilt) that i wasn't at all serious with the session at first. What i observed was just how scary-looking the female patient was, with the long banshee-like hair and a voice that.....well, it gives me goosebumps. Then the doctor asked us what were the findings of the patient, and i snapped back into class and tried to pay more attention. The second patient was a man, claiming that his mummy accused him of stealing money, lotsa lotsa money. I was trying to give term to the findings, that i realised i have problem in analysing psychotic patient. I don't know his affect. I reckoned it was blunt, but then what if he was just a bored patient who was bored being interviewed over and over? Coz he has the proper body language of being bored, flexing his neck backward, slowly battling eyelashes and all. Can we state affect by body language or it has to be just the face? In his statement, he said that his mummy accused him of stealing money. Okay, maybe true, maybe delusion, has to confirm. If it's a delusion, what category of delusion is that persecutory, guilt-or-sin? I tried to ask Dr. Wee, but maybe the way i delivered my question made it turned out a bit not quite. He asked me back my opinion, so i went, "err..persecutory delusion?" And he said that he'd agree. So i was like..hmm..okay.. I thought that persecutory delusion was just limited to physical harm like, poisoning, killing, beating. So (rupa-rupanya) it's just the issue of my poor vocabulary. ;P

Persecutory delusions: These are the most common type of delusions and involve the theme of being followed, harassed, cheated, poisoned or drugged, conspired against, spied on, attacked, or obstructed in the pursuit of goals. Sometimes the delusion is isolated and fragmented (such as the false belief that co-workers are harassing), but sometimes are well-organized belief systems involving a complex set of delusions ("systematized delusions"). A person with a set of persecutory delusions may be believe, for example, that he or she is being followed by government organizations because the "persecuted" person has been falsely identified as a spy. These systems of beliefs can be so broad and complex that they can explain everything that happens to the person.

Read more: http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Delusions.html#ixzz0XCZRezVd