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Karl Jaspers, Mental States, and Delusional Beliefs: A Redefinition and Its Implications

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Psychopathology and Philosophy

Abstract

No other subject within the field of psychiatry is so central and simultaneously so little understood as delusional beliefs, and a history of psychiatry is always a history of changing ideas about delusions as well. Although clinicians daily diagnose delusions opinion is unanimous in the literature that no-one can specify what a delusion really is. As Huber (1981, p. 172) puts it, “there exists no satisfactory general definition of delusion”.

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Spitzer, M. (1988). Karl Jaspers, Mental States, and Delusional Beliefs: A Redefinition and Its Implications. In: Spitzer, M., Uehlein, F.A., Oepen, G. (eds) Psychopathology and Philosophy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74133-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74133-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-50357-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74133-3

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