The treatment of monodelusional psychosis associated with depression

Delusional disorder: retrospective analysis of 86 Chinese outpatients

Patients who visited the psychiatric outpatient service of Chang Gung Medical Centre, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan during an 8-year period were studied retrospectively. Among the 10,418 outpatients, 86 (0.83%) were diagnosed as having DSM-IV delusional disorder (DD), including 61 (70.9%) with persecutory type, 12 (14.0%) with the mixed type, seven (8.1%) with jealous type, two (2.3%) with somatic type, two (2.1%) with unspecified type, one (1.2%) with erotomanic type, and another one with grandiose type. The ratio of women to men was 0.86. The mean age at onset was 42.4 +/- 15.41 years, with women being older than men. Thirty-seven cases (43.0%) presented with depressive symptoms at their first visit. Subjects were divided into four groups: persecutory type, jealous type, mixed type and others. There were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of gender, age at onset, time-lapse before seeking psychiatric help, the presence of hallucination or the presence of depression.

Monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis in a man with learning disabilities

A case report of a male patient with moderate degree of learning disabilities and monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis is described, along with its pathogenic features and response to treatment.

An unusual monosymptomatic hypochondriacal delusion presenting as self-insertion of a foreign body into the urethra

The case of a middle-aged man who inserted a knitting needle into his urethra is described. This behaviour was associated with a monosymptomatic hypochondriacal delusion. The causes of such behaviour are discussed, together with the nosological status of monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis.