Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:10:33.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Socio-Clinical Substrates of Folie à Deux

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Som Datta Soni
Affiliation:
Prestwich Hospital, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 7BL
Gerald Joseph Rockley
Affiliation:
Prestwich Hospital, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 7BL

Extract

Folie à deux, the psychosis of association, has been defined as ‘the transference of delusional ideas and/or abnormal behaviour from one person to one or more individuals who have been in close association with the primary affected person’ (8). At least three conditions have been regarded as pre-requisite for its diagnosis: (a) definite evidence that the partners have been intimately associated, (b) identical content of the delusional ideas in both the patients, and (c) unequivocal evidence that the partners share, support and accept each other's delusions (7).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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 Alder, A. & Magruder, W. W. (1946) Folie à deux in identical twins treated with electro-shock therapy. J. nerv. ment. Dis., 103, 181—6.Google Scholar
2 Allers, R. (1920) Über psychogene Störungen in sprachfremder Umgebung. Z. ges. Neurol, u. Psychiat., 60, 287—91.Google Scholar
3 Chapman, J. (1966) The early symptoms of schizophrenia. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 225—51.Google Scholar
4 Christodoulou, G. N. (1970) Two cases of folie à deux in husband and wife. Acta psychiat. Scand., 46, 413—19.Google Scholar
5 Cole, L. (1957) Intellectual Development in Psychology of Adolescence. New York: Holt and Rhinehart Company Inc.Google Scholar
6 Crake, W. H. & Slater, E. (1945) Folie à deux in uniovular twins reared apart. Brain, 68, 213—21.Google Scholar
7 Dewhurst, K. & Todd, J. (1956) The psychosis of association—folie à deux. J. nerv. ment. Dis., 124, 451—9.Google Scholar
8 Gralnick, A. (1942) Folie à deux: the psychosis of association. A review of 103 cases and the entire English literature. Psychiat. Quarterly, 16, 230—63.Google Scholar
9 Gregory, I. (1959) Husbands and wives admitted to mental hospitals. J. ment. Sci., 105, 457—62.Google Scholar
10 Harrison, S. I., Hess, J. H. & Zrull, J. P. (1963) Paranoid reactions in children. J. Amer. Academy Child Psychiat., 2, 677—92.Google Scholar
11 Kallmann, F. J. & Mickey, J. S. (1946) The concept of induced insanity in family units. J. nerv. ment. Dis., 104, 303—15.Google Scholar
12 Kamal, A. (1965) Folie à cinq: a clinical study. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 583—6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 King, F. F. (1951) Aliens' paranoid reaction. J. ment. Sci., 97, 589—94.Google Scholar
14 Kreitman, N. (1962) Mental disorder in married couples. J. ment. Sci., 108, 438—46.Google Scholar
15 Lasègue, C. & Falret, J. (1877) La folie à deux. Ann. méd.-psychol., 18, 321. English translation by Michaud, R. (1964) in supplement to Amer. J. Psychiat., 121, no. 4.Google Scholar
16 McNiel, J. N., Verwoerdt, A. & Peak, D. (1972) Folie à deux in the aged: review and case report of role reversal. J. Amer, geriat. Soc., 20, no. 7, 316–23.Google Scholar
17 Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1969) Clinical Psychiatry, pp. 294 and 607. Third edition. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cassell.Google Scholar
18 Oatman, J. G. (1947) Folie à deux: report of a case in identical twins. Amer. J. Psychiat., 98, 842—5.Google Scholar
19 Postle, B. (1940) Folie à deux. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 43, 372—80.Google Scholar
20 Ropschitz, D. H. (1957) Folie à deux: a case of folie imposée a quatre and à trois. J. ment. Sci., 103, 589—96.Google Scholar
21 Spensley, J. (1972) Folie à deux with methylphenidate psychosis. J. ment. nerv. Dis., 155, 288—90.Google Scholar
22 Tseng, W. S. (1969) A paranoid family in Taiwan; a dynamic study of folie à famille. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 21, 5563.Google Scholar
23 Sturges, S. G. (1967) Folie à deux in husband and wife: a case of folie simultanée. Bull. Menninger Clin., 31, 343—51.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.