THE FRONTAL LOBES AND CONTENT-SPECIFIC DELUSIONS

Contemporary research has shown that delusions are often the product o f identifiable neurologic disease, particularly when the delusions hav e a specific theme or are confined to one topic-monosymptomatic or con tent-specific delusions. Although these delusions are considered rare, some of them can be found at high rates in certain populations and se ttings. The literature on several classes of content-specific delusion s (misidentification, sexual, and somatic) is critically reviewed. The review demonstrates that when adequate diagnostic workups are conduct ed, a high proportion of such delusions are found to have a neurologic basis. Lesions of the frontal lobes and the right hemisphere are show n to be critical to the development and persistence of many content-sp ecific delusions.