QUEER DELUSIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 1 December 1920, Page 1

QUEER DELUSIONS

(By a Medical Correspondent). Sonio of the syihptolns attributed to M. Deschanel who has just resigned the Presidency of France, would suggest that his condition is one of micromania. Micromania is one., of those variousdelusions. which arise even in minds of the highest intelligence and cannot be removed by any amount of reasoning proving their absurdity. In micromauia the patient believes that his body, or some part of it, has become reduced in size. Ip a ease that came under my notice some years ago a most intelligent man got the fixed idea that his head had shrunk to the size of an orange. He thought himself so ridiculous that he would seldom go out of doors, yet he periodically bought hats of the large size of 7s, A delusion of this kind may arise from a sensation of tightening of the skin, giving rise to the belief that the part has shrunk. Delusions of persecution are very common. A man has a constant had taste in' this mouth or an unpleasant odour in his nose owing to some diseased condition, nnd lie attributes these to persecution by his enemies; people, lie thinks, are poisoning his food or pumping evil-smelling gases into bis room.

Others, from some affection of the hearing apparatus, hear voices speaking insulting Words to them, and they attribute these voices to persons who pass them in the street or sit with them in a room. They may even hear them through the wall from the next apartment.

Another form taken by this mental affection is a belief on the part of the victim that someone is torturing him bv magnetism or electricity. The explanation is that, owing to a nervous disease, he feels prickly sensations in the skin, and, being unable to account for their constant presence, he comes to the conclusion that the PostmasterGeneral is torturing him through the telegraph or telephone systems. Lately such persons have ascribed their sensations to wireless telegraphy! A person who suffers from a delusion may be perfectly sane with regard to everything outside it, nnd even use his reason in dealing with the delusion. Thus a patient who believed himself made of butter Would not go near a fire, while one who thought he was com-posed-of glass would not lot anyone touch him lest he should break. Eccentricity sometimes comes very near to delusional insanity, .but the eccentric recognises that he is be%ving in an absurd way, while the delisionist cannot ho convinced of hit error.