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Need for an Antipsychotic in a Case of Infective Insanity Between Siblings – A Therapeutic Approach

Received: 26 May 2018    Accepted: 8 June 2018    Published: 5 July 2018
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Shared Delusional Disorder is not uncommon and has been included in formal diagnostic classification systems. However, it is not frequently diagnosed. This is a case of a 21 year old female, unmarried, who presented to our OPD with prominent psychotic symptoms, particularly a fixed belief that she was being followed by someone for the last six years. Her elder sister, who was close to her emotionally also developed persecutory delusion of similar content within one year of its onset in the younger sister. Thus when they first presented to the OPD, both sisters had similar type of psychotic presentation. After separation of both sisters, psychotic symptoms improved in elder sister within one month. CONCLUSION: Shared Delusional disorder is not uncommon. The risk of induced delusion is more among those who have high emotional bonding and it disappears following separation of each other. So it is necessary to evaluate the family member of individuals suffering from psychiatric disorder to rule out Induced delusional disorders. The conceptual issues of the problem are also discussed.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11
Page(s) 18-21
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Shared Delusion, Induced Delusion, Induced Psychosis, Infective Insanity, Folie à Deux, Antipsychotics

References
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[2] Fenning S, Fochtmann LJ, Bromet EJ: Delusional disorder and shared psychotic disorder. In Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, vol 1. Edited by Sadock BJ, Sadock VA. New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005:1525–1533.
[3] Legrand du Saulle H: Idées de Persécution Communiquées ou Délire à Deux et à Trois Personnes. Le Délire des Persécutions, Paris: Henri Plon; 1871.
[4] Régis E: La Folie à Deux ou Folie Simultannée Avec Observation Recueillies à la Clinique de Pathologie Mentale (Thèse). Paris: Baillière; 1880.
[5] Lehman G: Zur casuistik des induzirten irreseins (Folie à deux). Arch Psychiatr 1883, 14:145–154.
[6] Scharfetter C: On the hereditary aspects of symbiotic psychoses. A contribution towards the understanding of the schizophrenia-like psychoses. Psychiatr Clin (Basel) 1970, 3:145–152.
[7] Gralnick A: Folie à deux—the psychosis of association. Psychiatr Q 1942, 16:230–236, 491–520.
[8] American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edn 3. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1980.
[9] American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edn 4. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
[10] American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edn 5. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
[11] World health organization: the ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioral disorders, edn 10. Geneva: world health organization; 1992.
[12] Psychiatry 2006; 5:11. American psychiatric association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Text revised.
[13] Dewhurst K, Todd J. The psychosis of a association; folie à deux. J Nerv Ment Dis 1956; 124:451–9.
[14] Balcioglu YH, Kirlioglu SS, Berkol TD, Ozgen G. Coincidental mega cisterna magna with psychotic disorder: a possible neuroanatomical liability for a shared psychotic disorder; 2017.
[15] Enoch MD, Ball HN. Folie à deux. In: Enoch MD, Ball HN (eds). Uncommon psychiatric syndromes. 4th ed. New Delhi: Arnold Viva; 2004:179–208.
[16] Silveira JM, Seeman MV: Shared Psychotic disorder: A Critical Review of the Literature. Can J Psychiatry. 1995, 40: 389-395.
[17] Suresh Kumar P N, Subramanyam N, Thomas B, Abraham A, Kumar K. Folie à deux. Indian J Psychiatry 2005; 47:164-6.
[18] Delusional sharing: a history focus-on and case report of folie à deux. Balducci PM, Gobbicchi C, Moretti P, Tortorella A. Riv Psichiatr. 2017 Jul-Aug; 52 (4):168-171.
[19] A Contagious Disorder: Folie à Deux and Dementia. Cipriani G, Abdel-Gawad N, Danti S, Di Fiorino M. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2018 Jan 1:1533317518772060.
[20] Folie à deux by Proxy in a Father, after Physical Abuse by a Mentally Ill Daughter.
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  • APA Style

    Vimalanathane Panneerselvam, Sivabalan Elangovan. (2018). Need for an Antipsychotic in a Case of Infective Insanity Between Siblings – A Therapeutic Approach. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 3(2), 18-21. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11

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    ACS Style

    Vimalanathane Panneerselvam; Sivabalan Elangovan. Need for an Antipsychotic in a Case of Infective Insanity Between Siblings – A Therapeutic Approach. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2018, 3(2), 18-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11

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    AMA Style

    Vimalanathane Panneerselvam, Sivabalan Elangovan. Need for an Antipsychotic in a Case of Infective Insanity Between Siblings – A Therapeutic Approach. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2018;3(2):18-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11,
      author = {Vimalanathane Panneerselvam and Sivabalan Elangovan},
      title = {Need for an Antipsychotic in a Case of Infective Insanity Between Siblings – A Therapeutic Approach},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {18-21},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20180302.11},
      abstract = {BACKGROUND: Shared Delusional Disorder is not uncommon and has been included in formal diagnostic classification systems. However, it is not frequently diagnosed. This is a case of a 21 year old female, unmarried, who presented to our OPD with prominent psychotic symptoms, particularly a fixed belief that she was being followed by someone for the last six years. Her elder sister, who was close to her emotionally also developed persecutory delusion of similar content within one year of its onset in the younger sister. Thus when they first presented to the OPD, both sisters had similar type of psychotic presentation. After separation of both sisters, psychotic symptoms improved in elder sister within one month. CONCLUSION: Shared Delusional disorder is not uncommon. The risk of induced delusion is more among those who have high emotional bonding and it disappears following separation of each other. So it is necessary to evaluate the family member of individuals suffering from psychiatric disorder to rule out Induced delusional disorders. The conceptual issues of the problem are also discussed.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    AU  - Vimalanathane Panneerselvam
    AU  - Sivabalan Elangovan
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20180302.11
    T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
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    JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
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    AB  - BACKGROUND: Shared Delusional Disorder is not uncommon and has been included in formal diagnostic classification systems. However, it is not frequently diagnosed. This is a case of a 21 year old female, unmarried, who presented to our OPD with prominent psychotic symptoms, particularly a fixed belief that she was being followed by someone for the last six years. Her elder sister, who was close to her emotionally also developed persecutory delusion of similar content within one year of its onset in the younger sister. Thus when they first presented to the OPD, both sisters had similar type of psychotic presentation. After separation of both sisters, psychotic symptoms improved in elder sister within one month. CONCLUSION: Shared Delusional disorder is not uncommon. The risk of induced delusion is more among those who have high emotional bonding and it disappears following separation of each other. So it is necessary to evaluate the family member of individuals suffering from psychiatric disorder to rule out Induced delusional disorders. The conceptual issues of the problem are also discussed.
    VL  - 3
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Author Information
  • Department of Psychiatry, SRM Medical College & Research Centre, Tamilnadu, India

  • Department of Psychiatry, SRM Medical College & Research Centre, Tamilnadu, India

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