Another "
node your homework".. from my college
Humanities course, where we were required to write a paper, the only subject requirement being that it have something to do with one of the works we covered during the semester. Being a
nursing student, this ensued...
In his novel Don Quixote, Cervantes describes the adventures and misadventures of his fictional hero, Don Quixote de la Mancha. Don Quixote is a gentleman in his late middle age who has read so many bad chivalry novels that he has become convinced that he is a knight errant. He polishes up a rusty suit of armor, mounts his scraggly horse, and sets forth to do great deeds. He sees a dirty inn as a great castle, and believes that peasant girls are beautiful princesses. Don Quixote fits the criteria for delusional disorder set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition published by the American Psychiatric Association(DSM-IV).
Delusional disorder is characterized by nonbizarre delusions; i.e. the delusions involve potential real life situations. Visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory hallucinations may be present, but visual and auditory hallucinations may not be prominent. The hallucinations are related only to the delusional theme. Aside from the delusion, functioning is not obviously impaired. Types of delusional disorders include erotomanic (person believes that another is madly in love with them), grandiose (person believes they have superior power, knowledge, a special relationship with a deity or famous person, or that they themselves are a famous person), jealous (delusion of infidelity), persecutory (person believes that they are being persecuted), somatic (person believes they have physical defect or illness), or mixed (characteristics of more than one type).
Don Quixote’s delusions are nonbizarre. He himself is not a knight errant, which makes it a delusion. This does not mean, however, that being a knight errant is not a potential real life situation. He does have hallucinations. These are all connected with his delusion. In chapter 2, he sees an inn as a castle with drawbridge and moat, and the two whores standing at the entrance as ladies or princesses. He hears the reed pipe of a pig-gelder and is convinced that he is being regaled at a big feast, and that the burnt and moldy food he is eating is of the finest quality. In chapter 8, he believes that the windmills he sees are giants he must vanquish. In chapter 9, he sees two friars as magicians carrying off a captive princess. In chapter 23, he believes that he sees an entire underground world in the Cave of Montesinos. There are many more examples of his hallucinations than listed here. However, the hallucinations are only a small part of his disorder. Most of the time, he sees what is before him, but twists it to fit his theme. Aside from things that relate to his delusion of knight-errancy, he acts reasonably normally.
Don Quixote’s type of delusional disorder is grandiose. He believes himself to be an important member of the chivalry, a knight-errant on the order of Lancelot. Not until his death draws near does he realize what is reality and what is fantasy. He actually almost begins to draw his “squire”, Sancho Pansa, into the fantasy. If this had truly happened, this novel would have been an example of a “folie a deux”, where an originally nondelusional person is drawn into another’s delusion and begins to believe and act upon it. Although Don Quixote is a fictional character, he fits the DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of delusional disorder very well.