delusions of reference
Last reviewed 01/2018
Delusions of reference are held by people who are unduly self-conscious, where an individual experiences events and perceives objects in his environment as having a special significance for himself. The subject cannot help feeling that people take notice of him to an extraordinary degree. They may believe that everyone in the street is talking about them or see references to themself in newspapers and on TV which are not there.
Delusions of reference are similar to ideas of self-reference except insight is lost and the subject does not recognise that the ideas are false.