Shared Psychotic Disorder - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Shared psychotic disorder is a very rare condition in which people close to a mentally. It is also known folie à deux. In cases of shared psychotic disorder, the primary partner is most often in a position of strong influence over the other person. Psychotic illnesses alter a person's ability to think clearly, make good judgments, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, understand reality, and behave appropriately. People with psychotic disorders have difficulty staying in touch with reality and often are unable to meet the ordinary demands of daily life. Various sub-classifications of folie à deux have been proposed to describe how the delusional belief comes to be held by more than one person. Folie imposée is where a dominant person initially forms a delusional belief during a psychotic episode and imposes it on another person or persons with the assumption that the secondary person might not have become deluded if left to their own devices. Folie simultanée describes the situation where two people, considered to independently suffer from psychosis, influence the content of each other's delusions so they become identical or strikingly similar. Approximately 55% of secondary cases of the disorder have first-degree relatives with psychiatric disorders, not including the primary partner. This is not true of individuals with the primary diagnosis , as they showed a roughly 35% incidence. Stress and social isolation are believed to play a role and a person who experiences extreme isolation can also contribute to the development of this disorder.

Shared psychotic disorder has also been referred to by other names such as psychosis of association, contagious insanity, infectious insanity, double insanity, and communicated insanity. This disorder usually occurs only in long-term relationships in which one person is dominant and the other is passive. In most cases, the person in whom the delusions are induced is dependent on or submissive to the person with the psychotic disorder. The people involved often are reclusive or otherwise isolated from society and have close emotional links with each other. The disorder also can occur in groups of individuals who are closely involved with a person who has a psychotic disorder. The disturbance is not better accounted for by another Psychotic Disorder (e.g., Schizophrenia) or a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition. The dominating primary case is most commonly represented by persons with schizophrenia, delusions, or mood disorders. In Western countries, both the original delusions in the dominant person and the induced delusions in the submissive person are usually chronic and either persecutory or grandiose in nature. In Japan, acute psychotic reactions have been noted to be delusions of a religious nature.

Causes of Shared Psychotic Disorder

Common Causes and Risk factors of Shared Psychotic Disorder

• Social Isolation.
• Stress.

Signs and Symptoms of Shared Psychotic Disorder

Sign and Symptoms of Shared Psychotic Disorder

• Delusions.
• Hallucinations.
• Disorganized speech.
• Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior.

Treatment of Shared Psychotic Disorder

Common Treatment of Shared Psychotic Disorder

• Atypical newer neuroleptics are the accepted mode of treatment for the spectrum of these disorders.
• Newer-generation anticonvulsants are also highly effective for shared psychotic disorder.
• Olanzapine/fluoxetine (Symbyax), aripiprazole (Abilify), and quetiapine (Seroquel) are extremely effective in these cases.
• Antipsychotic medications also useful for Shared Psychotic Disorder
• psychotherapy treating Shared Psychotic Disorder
• Family therapy should also be considered to re-establish the nuclear family and to provide social support to modify old family dynamics.
• Do not use illegal drugs or drink alcohol, especially when you are taking medicine for this condition.