Ideas of reference

Learn more about Ideas of reference and other medical symptoms..

Below you can find further information on this medical area. All this information is freely available for re-distribution both privately and commercially, according to the GNU free documentation license.

Ideas of reference or delusions of reference involve a person having a belief or perception that irrelevant, unrelated or innocuous things in the world are referring to them directly or have special personal significance.

In their strongest form, they are considered to be a sign of mental illness and form part of a delusional, paranoid or psychotic illness (such as schizophrenia or delusional disorder).

They may include experiences such as:

feeling that people on television or radio are talking about, or talking directly to them
believing that headlines or stories in newspapers are written especially for them
having the experience that people (often strangers) drop hints or say things about them behind their back
believing that events (even world events) have been deliberately contrived for them, or have special personal significance
seeing objects or events as being deliberately set-up to convey a special or particular meaning

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All information published on this web site is for information purposes only. The content of this web site should not be used for a conclusive diagnosis or for choosing a treatment. The content on this site has been provided as a guideline and general information it is not intended to replace professional medical care. In all serious cases it is advisable to recieve attention from a qualified medical practitioner.