A comparison of delusional disorders in women and men.

The authors compared delusional disorders in men and women and found that women have more frequent erotic and heterosexual delusions, more affective symptoms, and more interpersonal precipitants and that men have more delusions with a homosexual theme. Perhaps because of these differences in delusional content and affective symptoms, delusional women are more difficult to diagnose within the DSM-III nomenclature than are delusional men. The authors discuss these findings from psychodynamic, ethologic, and sociocultural perspectives and suggest ways of improving DSM-III to make it more representative of female patients.