Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:15:39.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reversal of roles in folie à deux associated with manic-depressive illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

C M Dympna Ryan ,
Shaukat A Khan ,
Hilary M C Warwick  and
Richard H S Mindham
C M Dympna Ryan
Affiliation:
Leeds Addiction Unit, 19 Springfield Mount, Leeds LS2 9NG
Shaukat A Khan
Affiliation:
221 North East Glen Oak Avenue, Peoria, Illinois 61636, USA
Hilary M C Warwick
Affiliation:
University Dept. of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 7JX
Richard H S Mindham
Affiliation:
The University of Leeds, Academic Unit of Psychiatry, 15 Hyde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LT
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An example of folie à deux with an uncommon clinical picture is presented. It concerns two spinster sisters, with no past psychiatric history, who became simultaneously manic while on holiday. The “Principal” was clearly deluded; the “Associate” shared these abnormal beliefs. After recovery and eighteen months later, one became depressed and the other shared her suicidal ideas, but this time the roles of the “Principal” and “Associate” were reversed. The shortcomings of the ICD10 and DSM-IIIR in classifying this syndrome are highlighted.

Keywords

Folie à DeuxPrincipalAssociateReversal of RolesAffective Disorder
Type
Clinical & Brief Reports
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 1992 , pp. 55 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Lasègue, C, Falret, J. La folie à deux. Annales medico-psychologiques 1877; 18:321–355. Translated Michaud R. Am J Psychiatry 1964; 121 Suppl 4: 1-23.Google Scholar
2.Soni, SD, Rockley, GJ. Socio-clinical substrates of folie à deux. Br J Psychiatry 1974; 125: 230–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.World Health Organisation. International classification of mental disorders: glossary and guide to their classification in accordance with the tenth revision of the international classification of disorders. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1987.Google Scholar
4.American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 3rd rev ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1987.Google Scholar
5.Pichot, P. Diagnosis and classification in French-speaking countries. Psychol Med 1982; 12: 475–492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Henderson, DK, Gillispie, RD. A textbook of psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications, 1969.Google Scholar
7.Enoch, MD, Trethowan, WH. Uncommon psychiatric syndromes. Bristol: John Wright, 1979.Google Scholar
8.Brill, A. The empathie index and personality. Medical Record New York 1920. 97: 131.Google Scholar
9.Dewhurst, K, Todd, J. The Psychosis of Association — folie à deux. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 1956; 124: 451–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Bleuler, E. Textbook of psychiatry, translated by Brill, . New York: MacMillan, 1930.Google Scholar