Clinical Dimensions of Delusional Beliefs: A Factor-Analytic Study

We investigated the factorial composition as well as the demographic, anamnestic and clinical correlates of 13 features of delusional beliefs in a sample of 127 psychiatric inpatients with active delusions at the time of their assessment: Six factors were extracted, jointly accounting for 67.3% of the variance, which were interpreted as the dimensions of cognitive disintegration, volitional dyscontrol, doxastic strength, distress, incongruence and expansiveness, respectively. Moreover, most factors exhibited distinctive profiles of demographic, anamnestic or clinical correlates. Overall, our findings provide supportive evidence for both the clinical multidimensionality of delusional beliefs at the factor-analytic level and the – at least partial – external validity of the factorial solution obtained.