Delusional Disorder: Paranoia and Related Illnesses

Jul 3, 2026

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Delusional disorder—once termed paranoia—was reintroduced into modern psychiatric diagnosis in 1987. This volume reconciles earlier concepts with contemporary knowledge, offering a systematic contemporary perspective and integrating scattered research. Delusional systems follow a characteristic form, yet vary widely, with patients often denying illness and refusing help, leaving clinicians to recognize it late. The book reviews the concept’s emergence, details presentations, differential diagnosis, and treatment, and provides instructive cases spanning persecutory, somatic, dysmorphic, infestation delusions, erotomania, and related paranoid-spectrum conditions, emphasizing treatability and clinical management.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages56

Reading Time2 h 21 min

Contents

List of case descriptions

Preface

Part I Delusional disorders and delusions: introductory aspects

Part II

DELUSIONAL DISORDER Paranoia and Related Illnesses Delusional disorder, once termed paranoia, was an important diagnosis in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Subsequently it was subsumed with schizophrenia, and only in 1987 was it reintroduced into modern psychiatric diagnosis. This book aims to reconcile recent knowledge with older ideas about the condition, and thereby to provide a contemporary perspective to the concept of delusional disorder and to integrate the scattered literature on the topic. The illness has a characteristic form, but the content of the delusional system can vary widely. SuVerers may deny mental illness and refuse psychiatric help, so that mental health professionals, who should be at the forefront in dealing with delusional disorder, are often the last to see it. Psychiatrists and other clinicians will therefore appreciate this review of a disorder once considered untreatable but in fact, as the author shows, responsive to appropriate management. The text deals with the emergence of the concept of delusional disorder, and goes on to detail its manifold presentations, diVerential diagnosis and treatment. Many instructive case histories are provided, illustrating manifestations of delusional disorder including the persecutory and somatic subtypes, and variants including dysmorphic and infestation delusion, erotomania, and related conditions in the paranoid spectrum such as paraphrenia, folie a` deux and paranoid personality disorder. This is the most wide ranging and authoritative text on the subject to have appeared for many years, and the Wrst to suggest, based on the author’s extensive experience, that the category of delusional disorder should contain not one but several conditions. It also emphasizes that, contrary to traditional belief, delusional disorder is a treatable illness. alistair munro is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and an internationally recognized authority on delusional disorder. Publisher’s Note The Publishers acknowledge their debt to the late George Winokur, MD, who, in the last years of his life, worked with them to develop this book, and three further volumes, as the Wrst titles in a new series under his editorship, to be called Concepts in Clinical Psychiatry. Dr Winokur was not, unfortunately, able to read any of these works in their Wnal form. Dr Winokur’s contribution to contemporary psychiatry, and in particular his dedication to a medical model for psychiatric disorder, was distinctive, and his editorial style was inimitable. These four volumes are a tribute to his vision for psychiatry as a clinical discipline founded on the principles of scientiWc evidence and clinical judgement. The Anxiety Disorders by Russell Noyes, Jr., and Rudolf Hoehn-Saric Delusional Disorder Paranoia and related illnesses by Alistair Munro Schizophrenia Concepts and clinical management by Eve C. Johnstone, Martin Humphreys, Fiona Lang, Stephen Lawrie and Robert Sandler Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders by William R. Yates, Carol S. North and Richard D. Wetzel DELUSIONAL DISORDER Paranoia and Related Illnesses ALISTAIR MUNRO Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK [http:](http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk)[//](http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk)[www.cup.cam.ac.uk](http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk) 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA [http:](http://www.cup.org)[//](http://www.cup.org)[www.cup.org](http://www.cup.org) 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1999 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the wri

FAQs

What is delusional disorder, and how does the book frame its historical status in diagnosis?

Delusional disorder, previously called paranoia, was later grouped with schizophrenia and only reintroduced into modern psychiatric diagnosis in 1987. The book aims to connect older ideas with newer knowledge to provide a contemporary perspective.

How can the symptoms and delusional content of delusional disorder differ among patients?

The illness has a characteristic form, but the content of the delusional system varies widely. Patients may deny mental illness and refuse psychiatric help, which complicates early recognition.

What topics does the book cover regarding clinical approach to the disorder?

The text addresses the emergence of the concept, describes multiple presentations, provides differential diagnosis, and outlines treatment. It also includes case histories showing persecutory and somatic subtypes plus related paranoid-spectrum variants.

Jul 3, 2026

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