It is generally accepted that sociocultural influences determine, to a significant degree, the actual manifestation of most psychiatric disorders. Moreover the form and content of delusions frequently seen in psychotics are apt to be changed
sensitively
according to the change of sociocultral environment. In a view point of sociocultural psychiatry many authors have tried to study the characteristics of delusion in Korea since the early 1960s, when the speculation has been suggested that the
main
themes of delusion is Korea are political and sexual issues.
Any kinds of delusions are seen in about 46% of all psychoses, 70-855 of schizophrenia, 67% of mania, and 20-28% of depression.
The contents of delusion have been changed significantly during the last 30 years. In the past main themes of delusion were commonly related with 'poisoning,' 'shadowing', 'killing' and 'political power' But recently they were changed to
'bothering',
'unfaithfulness of spouse' and so on, which suggest that the themes of delusion have been changed from aggressive nature to rather smoother contents according to the development of social environment.
The most common theme of persecutory delusion is 'political issues', and the next are 'home', 'neighborhood', 'physical health', 'business', 'erotic problems', 'technical issues' and 'religion' in frequency order. The most common theme in men is
'political issues' while in women 'relation with neighbors'. In Korea political issues have been not only a common theme of delusion but a common concern of many people, especially of men, after Korean war.
The most common theme of grandiose delusion in men is also 'political issues', and the next are 'business', 'honor', and 'invention', while in women the most common theme is 'religion' and the next is 'erotic content'. Differences of main themes
of
delusion between men and women are attributed to differences of common interest between men and women.
Religious delusion is seen two times more frequently in women than in men And the main content of religious delusion is related with Christianity.
In the past delusion of infidelity was considered to be much more frequent in men than in women, but it was revealed to become almost same or mere frequent in women in recent studies.
The main objects of delusion were recognized as 'unspecified object', 'President or his family', 'communist' and 'spy' in 1950s and 60s, but recent studies report that the main objects have been changed to 'friend', 'colleague', 'VIP' and
'almighty
being', which reflect the recent changes of sociocultural milieu in Korea.
Persecutors in persecutory delusion have been studied by many authors In 1950s and 60s persons who are related with North Korea, for example, the communists, the Red army or spies were most frequently recognized as persecutors. And the next were
persons
or institutes related with political power. Those findings seem to reflect the political situation of the tragic division of Korean peninsula and dictatorship of those days. In 1970s patient's friend, family and close relatives were seen most
frequently
as persecutors, and in 1980s persons or institutes related with political power reappeared as most frequent persecutors which suggest the political situation of those days.
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