Der Ungezieferwahn - Ein Beitrag über die Ätiologie und den Aufbau dieser Halluzinose

Mester, Horst

doi:10.1055/s-2007-1002317

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The preponderance of females ranges from 1.33:1 (99) to 5.7:1 (47). In large samples, the ratio is usually about 2.5:1 (198,215,237,268,299,325,353). It was calculated to be 2.36:1 in the largest meta-analysis, with 1,196 cases (322).…”

Section: Epidemiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Delusional Infestation

Freudenmann

Lepping²

2009

Clin Microbiol Rev

230

367

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SUMMARY This papers aims at familiarizing psychiatric and nonpsychiatric readers with delusional infestation (DI), also known as delusional parasitosis. It is characterized by the fixed belief of being infested with pathogens against all medical evidence. DI is no single disorder but can occur as a delusional disorder of the somatic type (primary DI) or secondary to numerous other conditions. A set of minimal diagnostic criteria and a classification are provided. Patients with DI pose a truly interdisciplinary problem to the medical system. They avoid psychiatrists and consult dermatologists, microbiologists, or general practitioners but often lose faith in professional medicine. Epidemiology and history suggest that the imaginary pathogens change constantly, while the delusional theme “infestation” is stable and ubiquitous. Patients with self-diagnosed “Morgellons disease” can be seen as a variation of this delusional theme. For clinicians, clinical pathways for efficient diagnostics and etiology-specific treatment are provided. Specialized outpatient clinics in dermatology with a liaison psychiatrist are theoretically best placed to provide care. The most intricate problem is to engage patients in psychiatric therapy. In primary DI, antipsychotics are the treatment of choice, according to limited but sufficient evidence. Pimozide is no longer the treatment of choice for reasons of drug safety. Future research should focus on pathophysiology and the neural basis of DI, as well as on conclusive clinical trials, which are widely lacking. Innovative approaches will be needed, since otherwise patients are unlikely to adhere to any study protocol.

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Section: Epidemiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Delusional Infestation

Freudenmann

Lepping²

2009

Clin Microbiol Rev

230

367

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“…Acarophobia occurs 3 times as often in women as in men [15]. Delusions of infestation in women are most common in the perimenopause, with most sufferers showing no evidence of an organic psychosyndrome.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Psycho-analytic interpretations speculate that women with acarophobia have narcissistic problems, sexual conflicts, demonstrative behaviour [15] and that this symptomatology is a defence against depression. The patient described here was deeply depressed before the delusion appeared.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delusion of Infestation with Post-Partum Onset: Case Report

Lanczik

Hofberg²,

Brockington³

1999

Psychopathology

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Compared with men, women have a greater lifetime risk of delusions of infestation, with the risk appearing to increase around the menopause, when the blood levels of reproductive hormones are decreasing. Women also have a greater lifetime risk of depression and an increased incidence of depressive symptoms post partum, when the blood levels of these hormones are decreasing as well. The first case of a delusion of infestation with post-partum onset is described, and possible associations with reproductive function in women are discussed.

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“…We think that the great rarity of the psychotic theme of infestation can be used as an argument against the assumption of a primarily psychodynamic etiology of DP. Some authors have tried to interpret DP -at least partly -as a reaction to the conflict between a narcissistic personality and the situation of failure, or to similar psychody namic constellations [Mester, 1981]. But if we assume on the one hand that such a con flict or similar psychodynamic constellations are not very rare, and on the other hand that the theme of being punished by insects is not foreign to our culture, then we may ask why DP is so extremely rare.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without doubt, however, the most controversial debate has been that concerning nosological categorization of the syndrome. It has been assumed to be mainly organic [Conrad, 1955;Bergmann, 1957], mainly schizophrenic or 'generally endoge nous' [Maier, 1987], psychodynamically in terpretable [Mester, 1981] or etiologically and pathogenetically nonspecific [Helmchen, 1961],…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Delusional Parasitosis

Marneros

Deister²,

Rohde³

1988

Psychopathology

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Delusional parasitosis (DP) was found in about 7 of 10,000 psychiatric admissions. The comparison of patients suffering from DP (n = 20) with 170 cases of late-onset schizophrenia (LOS) and 120 patients diagnosed as organic mental disorder due to cerebral arteriosclerosis (CAS) showed more similarities of DP with organic than with schizophrenic disorders. In addition, the phenomenological analysis supports the classification of the majority of DP cases as organic mental disorders. Even careful analysis cannot always answer the question, whether the main symptoms of DP have to be classified as delusions, hallucinations or misidentifications.

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Der Ungezieferwahn - Ein Beitrag über die Ätiologie und den Aufbau dieser Halluzinose

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

Delusional Infestation

Delusional Infestation

Delusion of Infestation with Post-Partum Onset: Case Report

Delusional Parasitosis

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