Folie à deux Health Dictionary

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Folie à Deux: From 2 Different Sources

A French term that is used to describe the unusual occurrence of 2 people sharing the same psychotic illness (see psychosis). Commonly, the 2 are closely related and share one or more paranoid delusions. If the sufferers

are separated, one of them almost always quickly loses the symptoms, which have been imposed by the dominant, and genuinely psychotic, partner.

Health Source: BMA Medical Dictionary
Author: The British Medical Association
(shared delusion) a condition in which two people who are closely involved with each other share one or more delusions. Usually, one member of the pair, called the inducer, has developed a *psychosis and has imposed it on the other by a process of suggestion. More rarely, both members are delusional and elaborate their delusions or hallucinations together. More than two people may be involved (folie à trois, folie à quatre, etc.). Treatment usually involves separation of the affected people and management according to their individual requirements. The inducer usually requires antipsychotic medication. See also delusion by proxy; double delusion.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Paranoia

A condition in which the central feature is the delusion that people or events are especially connected to oneself. The term paranoia may also be used to describe feelings of persecution.

A paranoid person builds up an elaborate set of beliefs based on the interpretation of chance remarks or events. Typical themes are persecution, jealousy (see jealousy, morbid), love, and grandeur.

Paranoia may be chronic or acute. Chronic paranoia may be caused by brain damage, abuse of alcohol or amfetamines, manic–depressive illness, or schizophrenia and is likely in those with a personality disorder. Acute paranoia, lasting for less than 6 months, may occur in people, such as refugees, who have experienced radical changes. In shared paranoia (see folie à deux), delusion develops because of a close relationship with someone else who has a delusion.

There are usually no other symptoms of mental illness apart from occasional hallucinations. In time, anger, suspicion, and social isolation may become severe.

If acute illness is treated early with antipsychotic drugs, the outlook is good.

In longstanding paranoia, delusions are usually firmly entrenched, but antipsychotics may make them less prominent.... paranoia

Delusion By Proxy

a delusion in which the patient believes that another person or an animal (usually the patient’s pet) has certain physical symptoms, even though these cannot be objectively verified. The patient with the delusional belief is called the inducer; the person or pet that is allegedly affected is the proxy. Some *monodelusional disorders, such as *delusional infestation, have a prevalence of delusion by proxy of up to 5%. Treatment is usually with *antipsychotics. In some situations it may be necessary to remove the proxy to provide safety from the behaviour associated with the delusion. See also double delusion; folie à deux.... delusion by proxy

Double Delusion

the situation in which a patient (the inducer) presents with delusional symptoms that he or she believes to be shared by someone else who is incapable of expressing them (typically a child or a pet). This is different from a *delusion by proxy, in which the inducer does not claim to be experiencing the symptoms himself or herself. The term was introduced in 2015 by Peter Lepping, Mark Rishniw, and Roland Wolfgang Freudenmann. Compare folie à deux.... double delusion

Inducer

n. see delusion by proxy; double delusion; folie à deux.... inducer

Shared Delusion

see folie à deux.... shared delusion

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