INDUCED HALLUCINATORY PSYCHOSIS (FOLIE-A-DEUX HALLUCINATOIRE) - PATHOGENESIS AND NOSOLOGICAL POSITION

A rare case of a folie a deux in a married couple is presented. The in ducing partner (IND) suffered from paranoid hallucinatory psychosis an d induced similar symptomatology in his wife. Different from most case s reported in the literature, the induced partner (recipient, REC) als o experienced auditory hallucinations (commenting and conversing voice s). While the IND recovered fully with a combination of psychotherapeu tic as well as neuroleptic treatment, the REC was cured by the psychot herapeutic intervention and the recovery of the IND alone. According t o the criteria of current diagnostic systems (DSM, ICD), both patients should have been classified as schizophrenic, due to the presence of the described auditory hallucinations. We conclude that the presence o f hallucinations is less specific for a certain diagnosis than implied by such categorial systems and should be regarded as nosologically no n-specific symptoms. Modern neurocomputational models of psychopatholo gy, dimensional approaches in the description of hallucinations, as th e findings of new functional brain imaging studies support this view. We propose a multidimensional diagnostic process of hallucinations and to classify cases such as the one presented as 'induced hallucinatory psychosis' or 'folie a deux hallucinatoire'.