Folie à deux - a case report

Abstract

Introduction. Shared psychotic disorder, or folie ? deux, is a rare entity characterized by the transmission of psychotic symptoms from one patient (the inducer) to another (the induced). Delusional disorder is a type of mental illness (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification, diagnosis code F24; it was moved from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, to Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders). Only one person (the inducer) suffers from a real psychotic disorder, and the other/s is/ are induced, and most often recover/s after separation from the inducer. Case Report. Based on the medical records and available literature on this condition, we present a case of a mother and son with this disorder, where the son with a paranoid psychosis transfers it to his mother. They lived alone in the same household for years, socially isolated from the others. Conclusion. In general, the research has shown that there are no uniform opinions among authors regarding the incidence of the disorder in males and females, at younger and older age, as well as in relationships between partners, siblings, and between parents and children. Most agree that longterm social isolation is among the most common risk factors, as well as dominance and strong power of suggestion in one partner, and passivity and tendency to suggestion in the other.