The authors describe a scale designed to measure five dimensions of
delusional experience: conviction, extension, bizarreness, disorganization,
and pressure. Reliability was adequate to excellent on four of the
dimensions, but only fair on the dimension of bizarreness. In 52 delusional
patients, no two dimensions correlated highly with each other, indicating
that the dimensions were not redundant. Factor analysis identified two
factors from the five dimensions--delusional involvement and delusional
construct. On the basis of these results the authors suggest that delusions
are a multidimensional phenomenon; the results have implications for the
measurement of delusions in clinical research and for the understanding of
the structure of psychotic experience.Abstract Teaser