Cotard Syndrome — A Case Report.

Cotard’s Syndrome, is a very rare neuropsychiatric condition in which the sufferer holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. The syndrome is described to have various degrees of severity, ranging from mild to severe. It is seen in subjects with depression, schizophrenia and psychoorganic syndromes. The present case vignette is of a lady, who manifested the phenomenon of Cotard Syndrome in the background of depression.

Síndrome de De Clèrambault: uma revisão bibliográfica / The De Clèrambault's syndrome: a bibliographic revision

A síndrome de De Clèrambault (ou erotomania) consiste na convicção delirante, por parte do paciente, de que alguém de posição social mais elevada o ama. Acredita-se que privação sexual seja um fator psicodinâmico importante no desenvolvimento dessa condição, mas fatores orgânicos relacionados com sua etiologia continuam sendo investigados. Pretende-se, com este estudo, revisar o que a literatura médica traz de mais relevante sobre essa doença e suas causas. Para tanto, foram consultadas as bases de dados MEDLINE e LILACS, e os trabalhos mais adequados ao propósito da revisão foram examinados. Constata-se que a erotomania é pouco divulgada na literatura científica, podendo não ser tão rara quanto atualmente se propõe. A maior parte de sua explicação etiológica é pautada em bases psicodinâmicas pertinentes, sem, contudo, relações comprovadas de causalidade com seu quadro clínico. O avanço nas pesquisas neurobiológicas poderá trazer maior precisão ao diagnóstico e ao tratamento dos pacientes erotomaníacos.

Recurrent postictal depression with Cotard delusion.

Depression is a common occurrence among epileptic patients and constitutes, along with anxiety disorders, the most frequent psychiatric condition in these patients. However, little work is done in the area of post-ictal depression especially in children with epilepsy. Here, the authors report an adolescent boy who developed recurrent depression associated with Cotard's delusion following complex partial seizure at the age of 7 years. Trial of antidepressant drug and lithium worsened the clinical picture but ultimately he responded well to carbamazepine. This case is unique in its presentation due to recurrent depression itself is rare at this age and secondly rarity of onset of Cotard delusion in prepubertal phase. This case also showed that post-ictal depression is biological process rather than psychological and social reaction. Prompt identification and management of underlying cause would definitely prevent further complication and would also prevent the child from exposing unnecessary with various pharmacological treatments.

Environmental reduplication in a patient with right middle cerebral artery occlusion.

Environmental reduplication or reduplicative paramnesia is one of the content-specific delusions (CSD) which is characterized by reduplication of places. CSD has been reported in focal and diffuse cerebral disorders. A focal lesion such as frontal lobes and the right hemispheric lesion have been documented The authors describe a 66 year-old woman who had a delusion of misidentification for place one month after right middle cerebral artery occlusion. The patient did not have any history of schizophrenia or other psychiatric diseases. The patient believed that her car, furniture and house were duplicated. She also mentioned that her son and friends tried to takeover all of her properties and told everyone that she was insane. The prominent cortical signs were tactile and visual neglect. Neuropsychological assessments revealed poor attention but she had neither confusion nor dementia. Clock drawing and construction tests revealed visuospatial impairment which was compatible with non-dominant hemispheric abnormality. MRI showed evidence of cerebral infarction in the right middle cerebral artery territory. Only one similar patient who had an intracerbral hematoma of the right frontal lobe has been reported in the literature. The role of occipito-parietal and fronto-temporal lobes or their connections in environmental reduplication is proposed.

Frontal meningioma presenting with organic mood disorder in a patient with delusional disorder a case report

This is a report on a diagnosed case of persecutory delusional disorder of eleven years duration. The patient presented with organic mood disorder [depressive type] due to frontal lobe meningioma. Issues relating to misdiagnosis of such cases are discussed, such as overlooking of new complains of chronic psychiatric patients by psychiatrists, explaining new developments in such psychiatric patients as part of the condition and absence of neurological signs and symptoms, such as headaches and vomiting

Ekbom's syndrome: delusional disorder, somatic type, treatment with trifluoperazine

Since Ekbom's classical description was first published in 1938, numerous case reports of Ekbom's syndrome have been reported. Claims have been made that pimozide exerts a specific therapeutic effect in the syndrome. Following a brief description of the literature, a case report involving the use trifluoperazine, and the specific therapeutic efficacy of pimozide are discussed

Etiopatogenia de la delusión / Etyopathogenesis of delusión

El presente artículo revisa algunas de las principales teorías biológicas y psicológicas vigentes acerca de la etiopatogenia de las delusiones. Entre las primeras, se considera: 1) Los neurotransmisores; 2) El sueño; 3) La lateralidad hemisférica cerebral, y 4) La influencia "astral". La teoría psico-social más difundida sobre las delusiones es la psicodinámica, con base en el psicoanálisis