Psychological interventions in the treatment of delusional parasitosis: a brief review

Abstract

This review synthesized evidence on the most up‐to‐date treatment outcomes in patients with delusional parasitosis and examined the impact of incorporating psychological interventions in conjunction with psychiatric treatment. The reporting of this review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis guidelines. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched between 2013 and 2023. Nine studies were included in this review. Partial remission was observed across all cases, irrespective of the treatment approach employed. Complete remission was limited to only three studies. No correlation was observed between the incorporation of psychological intervention in conjunction with psychotropic medication and an enhanced remission outcome. The findings underscore the importance of psychotropic medication as a fundamental component in the treatment of delusional parasitosis. The results highlight that although first‐ and second‐generation psychotropic medications are the mainstay treatment options, they nevertheless play a limited role because of the patients' steadfast delusions of infestations.