The brain's capacity to form delusions as an evolutionary strategy for survival

Edward M. Hundert

pp. 346-354

in: Manfred Spitzer, Michael A. Schwartz, Michael A. Schwartz (eds), Phenomenology, language & schizophrenia, Berlin, Springer, 1992

Abstract

Delusions have long been considered a hallmark of mental illness. When individuals begin to believe that they are Jesus here to save the world or the devil here to destroy it, they are quickly labelled "psychotic" and thought to be in need of some form of psychiatric treatment. Throughout history, such individuals have been stigmatized and ostracized from the community because their souls have been taken over by evil demons, their mental structures have deteriorated, their brains have malfunctioned, or whatever other paradigm is employed to account for the "pathology" that delusions are assumed to represent.