About Delusion and Hallucinations

Authors

  • Ilma A. Goulart de Souza Britto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31505/rbtcc.v6i1.66

Keywords:

Delírios, alucinações, comportamento verbal, análise do comportamento, Delusion, hallucination, verbal behavior, behavioral analysis

Abstract

The present paper has the objective of presenting a discussion about delirium and hallucinations seen here as classes of problem behaviors. Delirium and hallucination are analysed under a natural science point of view, based on the contributions of Skinner's (1957) theory of verbal behavior and Staats (1996) language theory. Scenes of the movie A Beautiful Mind were used to illustrate the behavioral interpretation of such class of verbal behaviors. The motion picture presents the true story of a man diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Delirium and hallucination are words frequently associated with mentalistic concepts as active explanations of behavior. The behavior is explained by the concept, in a circular way. It is proposed that instead of mental concepts, it is the strange, out of the ordinary behaviors that should become object of study.

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Published

2004-02-01

How to Cite

Britto, I. A. G. de S. (2004). About Delusion and Hallucinations. Brazilian Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, 6(1), 61–71. https://doi.org/10.31505/rbtcc.v6i1.66

Issue

Section

Articles