First episode of psychosis in a middle-aged patient with a 14-year history of conversion disorder

The "Hysterical Psychosis" Dilemma: A Narrative Review

BACKGROUND

Hysteria in its most severe expression may reach psychotic manifestations. Such symptomatology has been occasionally described by various authors starting from the 19th century and defined as "hysterical psychosis" (HP) by Hollender and Hirsch in 1964. Currently, diagnostic psychiatric manuals such as DSM and ICD do not include the diagnosis of HP, although this term is commonly used in clinical practice. This raises a well-known problem with case definition due to an inconsistent use of terminology.

SUMMARY

Here, we propose a review of the literature that aims to highlight the clinical features of HP endorsed by the majority of authors, such as histrionic premorbid personality, acute reactive onset, short duration, altered state of consciousness, unstable delusions, typical hallucinations, labile mood, lack of flat affect. In the discussion, we focus on the differential diagnosis between HP and other diagnoses such as brief psychosis and schizophrenia, trying to point out aspects of distinction and continuity.

KEY MESSAGES

The debate about this nosographic entity still remains a huge dilemma and needs further contributions.

Mental Healthcare Delivery in Rural Greece: A 10-year Account of a Mobile Mental Health Unit

Introduction:

Patients living in rural and remote areas may have limited access to mental healthcare due to lack of facilities and socioeconomic reasons, and this is the case of rural areas in Eastern Europe countries. In Greece, community mental health service delivery in rural areas has been implemented through the development of the Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs).

Methods:

We present a 10-year account of the operation of the MMHU of the prefectures of Ioannina and Thesprotia (MMHU I-T) and report on the impact of the service on mental health delivery in the catchment area. The MMHU I-T is a multidisciplinary community mental health team which delivers services in rural and mountainous areas of Northwest Greece.

Results:

The MMHU I-T has become an integral part of the local primary care system and is well known to the population of the catchment area. By the end of 2016, the majority of patients (60%) were self-referred or family-referred, compared to 24% in the first 2 years. Currently, the number of active patients is 293 (mean age 63 years, 49.5% are older adults), and the mean caseload for each member of the team is 36.6. A significant proportion of patients (28%) receive care with regular domiciliary visits, and the provision of home-based care was correlated with the age of the patients. Within the first 2 years of operation of the MMHU I-T hospitalizations of treatment, engaged patients were reduced significantly by 30.4%, whereas the treatment engagement rates of patients with psychotic disorders were 67.2% in 5 years.

Conclusions:

The MMHU I-T and other similar units in Greece are a successful paradigm of a low-cost service which promotes mental health in rural, remote, and deprived areas. This model of care may be informative for clinical practice and health policy given the ongoing recession and health budget cuts. It suggests that rural mental healthcare may be effectively delivered by integrating generic community mental health mobile teams into the primary care system.