Ideas and delusions of reference

This article is about a mental illness. For the album by Psyopus, see Ideas of Reference.

Ideas of reference and delusions of reference involve people having a belief or perception that irrelevant, unrelated or innocuous phenomena in the world refer to them directly or have special personal significance. In psychiatry, delusions of reference form part of the diagnostic criteria for psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder, or bipolar disorder during the elevated stages of mania.

Persons with ideas of reference may experience:

• A feeling that people on television or radio are talking about or talking directly to them
• Believing that headlines or stories in newspapers are written especially for them
• Having the experience that people (often strangers) drop hints or say things about them behind their back
• Believing that events (even world events) have been deliberately contrived for them, or have special personal significance for them
• Seeing objects or events as being set up deliberately to convey a special or particular meaning to themselves
• Thinking persons or groups of persons are plotting against them and that precautions must be taken to avert the threat
• Believing one's entire conception of reality external to them is molded by conspiracy directed at them, e.g. life is a hidden reality show, or the government has technological mind controlling influences aimed individually upon them.

The onset of any of these patterns of belief are often attributed to one great revelation on the part of the affected individual. Ideas of reference can also be compared to religious ideology in which some supernatural being is especially concerned with the individual, their family, tribe, or species. Ideas of reference have also been compared to the breaking down of the fourth wall in theater.

See also

• Delusion
• Paranoia

External links

• "Ideas of Reference About Newscasters". Psychiatr Serv 51:679, May 2000. Retrieved 2007-02-21.