In the case of color-meaning delusions, the symptom is best categorized as which type of symptom?

• A. Delusion
• B. Hallucination
• C. Illusion
• D. Obsession

Answer: (A)

Color-meaning delusions involve a fixed, false belief about the significance of colors that the person is convinced is true, despite evidence to the contrary. This fits a delusion because it is a belief about reality that the person clings to with strong conviction, not a sensory experience or misperception. A hallucination would be seeing or sensing something that isn’t there, which color-meaning delusions do not describe. An illusion would be a misperception of a real stimulus, like misreading a color in the environment. An obsession is an intrusive thought or urge, not a convinced belief about external meaning. So the appropriate categorization is delusion.