Table 4.

Classification of delusions according to cause (Cutting 1997)

Diagnostic link	Dementia, delirium, schizophrenia, depressive psychosis, mania
Purported mechanism	Antecedent phenomenological condition
	(a) For primary delusions	End of the world experience Trema- fright Anomalous experience Feeling of conviction
	(b) For secondary delusions	Depressed mood Elated mood Hallucinations Illogical thinking
	Impasse in life with personality predisposition
	(a) For primary delusions	Inner conflict Ontological meaning search
	(b) For secondary delusions	Personality disorder Inner conflict External conflict Existential dilemma Exaggerated cognitive bias
	Psychological deficit
	(a) For primary delusions	Thought disorder Breakdown in Gestalt
	(b) For secondary delusions	Anxiety Stimulus overgeneralization Breakdown in response hierarchies Impaired attention Perceptual deficit Heightened consciousness Illogical thinking General cognitive integration failure
	Extra-mental events
	Applicable to primary and secondary delusions	Brain disease Sensory deprivation Deafness