Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T22:40:48.601Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Three Thousand Days of Pregnancy

A Case of Monosymptomatic Delusional Pseudocyesis Responding to Pimozide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Karel W. De Pauw
Karel W. De Pauw*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Armthorpe Road, Doncaster DN2 5LT; former Senior Registrar, Leicester General Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

An unusual case of pseudocyesis of almost ten-year duration, characterised by a monosymptomatic hypochondriacal delusion and a selective response to pimozide is reported. The nosological status of the diagnosis, delusional (paranoid) disorder, is suggested to be a variety of the Kraepelinian concept of paranoia. The therapeutic pitfalls of relying on a phenomenological distinction between overvalued ideas and delusional beliefs are discussed.

Type
Brief Reports
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 6 , December 1990 , pp. 924 - 928
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Barglow, P. & Brown, E. (1972) Pseudocyesis. To be and not to be pregnant: a psychosomatic question. In Modern Perspectives in Psycho-Obstetrics (ed. J. G. Howells). Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Bjerg Hansen, E. (1976) Paranoia Hypochondriaca. Copenhagen: Frederiksberg.Google Scholar
Chouinard, G. & Jones, B. D. (1980) Neuroleptic-induced supersensitivity psychosis: clinical and pharmacologic characteristics. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 16–21.Google Scholar
Cohen, L. M. (1982) A current perspective of pseudocyesis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 1140–1144.Google Scholar
Cramer, B. (1971) Delusion of pregnancy in a girl with drug-induced lactation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 136–139.Google Scholar
Evans, D. L. & Seely, T. J. (1984) Pseudocyesis in the male. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 37–40.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. C. & Anton, R. F. (1983) Pimozide in delusions of parasitosis. (C) Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 44, 233.Google Scholar
Matas, M. & Robinson, C. (1988) Diagnosis and treatment of monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis in chronic renal failure. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 33, 748–750.Google Scholar
Miller, W. H. & Maricle, R. (1988) Pseudocyesis: a model for cultural, psychological, and biological interplay. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 8, 183–190.Google Scholar
Mortimer, A. & Banbery, J. (1988) Pseudocyesis preceding psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 562–565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munro, A. (1982) Delusional Hypochondriasis. A description of Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis (MHP). Clarke Institute of Psychiatry Monograph Series No. 5. Toronto: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Neppe, V. M. (1989) Pseudocyesis. In DSM–III–R Casebook (eds R. L. Spitzer, M. Gibbon, A. E. Skodol, et at). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Opjorosmoen, S. (1988) Hypochondriacal psychoses: a long-term follow-up. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 77, 587–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opjorosmoen, S. & Retterstøl, N. (1987) Hypochondriacal delusions in paranoid psychoses: course and outcome compared with other types of delusions. Psychopathology, 20, 272–284.Google Scholar
Reichenbacher, T. & Yates, A. (1987) Pseudocyesis as the presenting symptom in an adolescent patient with an incipient thought disorder. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 8, 456–459.Google Scholar
Trethowan, W. H. (1979) Some rarer psychiatric disorders. In Current Themes in Psychiatry 2 (eds R. N. Gaind & B. L. Hudson). London: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Vacek, J. (1980) Pseudocyesis non psychotica et pseudocyesis psychotica. $Cneskoslovenská Gynekologie, 45, 665–672.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.