DELUSIONAL DISORDERS - BOUNDARIES OF A CONCEPT

In 1987, DSM-III introduced the term delusional disorder. In so doing they gave new life to a concept that had predated but was delineated i n its modern form by Kraepelin and developed most notably in France in the second and third decades of this century. While the current conce pt of delusional disorder is defined in a manner that distinguishes it from schizophrenia, a consideration of the evolution of thinking abou t delusional syndromes in France suggests that current distinctions ar e based on descriptive convenience rather than any understanding of th e mechanisms that might produce phenotypic variations. If the purpose of accurate descriptions is to assist research, this state of affairs would seem unsatisfactory. (C) 1998 Elsevier, Paris.