Psychotherapy for Delusional Disorder: Theoretical Models and Therapeutic Techniques

Delusional disorder is a challenging mental health condition given its resistance to conventional treatment with antipsychotic medications. Although patients with delusional disorder often retain good functioning outside of their delusional theme, they often become functionally impaired as delusional ideas become more central in their lives. Psychotherapy represents an important treatment modality for these patients, in that it may be the most effective treatment option to date. Theorists from both the psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral schools have offered frameworks for understanding and treating delusions and delusional disorder, and both models appear to be useful in working with this difficult-to-treat condition. In this Psychotherapy Tools article, the authors briefly review delusional disorder, assess current research data on its psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral treatment, and offer practical suggestions for integrating these models from a unified biopsychosocial perspective.