I had only been working in a parasitology lab for a few months before I received my first call from a patient presumably with delusional parasitosis. The caller sounded quite normal and was inquiring about the diagnostics facility at our lab. Confusing them with a new client I started to explain our services when I was interrupted and was asked whether we can test skin samples for parasites. As I calmly explained that is not what we do, the caller started to become more frantic, the samples were from his wife you see, and she is covered with parasites that the doctors cannot seem to diagnose and they have called labs all over the country. Again, I try to explain that we do not offer these types of diagnostic services when the caller then starts on a tirade with a stream of expletives that all doctors are idiots and no one will help them. Realizing that this conversation is far from cordial at this point, I recommend that they consult their physician, and politely hang up. This was my first encounter with delusional parasitosis and since then, it has been a fascination on not only what can cause this particular condition, but also the mind-body connection that it seems to encompass.
Delusional parasitosis (DP) is defined as a mistaken belief that oneself is infested by parasites such as fleas, spiders, mites, lice, worms and other organisms. These delusions can include believing that parasites are living in or on the skin, around or inside body openings, in the stomach or bowels, and sometimes infesting the sufferer's home, surroundings, pets or clothing (Bohart, 2014). The false belief of delusional parasitosis stands in contrast to actual cases of parasitosis, such as scabies. Delusions of parasitosis has been referred ...
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...station" has the advantage of a broad range of pathogens (Freudenmann & Lepping, 2009).
How common is delusional parasitosis? Though it is considered a rare disorder, it is considered by many psychiatrists to be underestimated due to the nature of the symptoms and by the patients seeing a variety of doctors, dermatologists, veterinarians, pest control specialists, entomologists and not necessarily psychiatric (Driscoll, 1993)(Szepietowski, 2007)(Bak, Tumu, Hui, Kay, Burnett, et al., 2008)(Hinkle, 2011). There is a large unknown figure, and by looking at the few cases reports and searching through Internet forums can merely give a vague idea of the true frequency (Freudenmann & Lepping, 2009). Because delusional parasitosis is not at all well known to non-specialists, under those circumstances the condition often goes undiagnosed, or may be incorrectly diagnosed.
A physician has an unenviable position; he is closest to man approaching a god-like stature. And despite the demise of 'doctor knows best', we still need to trust his diagnosis-something that is increasingly difficult in a world where information is widely available, and Google substitutes for a doctor. In the case of psychiatry the issue of trust is amplified since diagnosis is based on a patient's expressed thoughts and overt behaviours rather than solely on biological phenomena. And these thoughts and behaviours are influenced by the patient's environment-a mix of his social, cultural and technological experiences.
Delusions are a symptom of psychiatric disorders such as dementia and schizophrenia, and they also characterize delusional disorders. Delusion is defined as a false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitut...
the definition of parasite, is something that hurts. for ever. this parasite, was a landmine. I had good medical attention. But once i returned home, I finally left. I wanted to leave. there were rockets, raining down in every place i looked. those rockets stole my family. we couldn't stay. so we fled. the last time i had a true education, was when i entered high school. between 2nd grade and 9th the education i had in my birth place, that wasn't any kind of education. i wanted more. and there was nothing there for me to want
This disorder has been an issue for a very long time. “Examples stretch back to the Middle Ages and early renaissance, when outbreaks of twitching and tics lead to witch hunts”(Szalavitz). Not only has this same disorder been mistaken for witchcraft before, but the exact same symptoms have been displayed back then, as now. Their antics in the woods could not have been the cause of the way that they acted, besides the evidence that they have this disorder, because they were infected immediately after Paris frightened them. The only explanation for this ‘mass hysteria’ is Conversion Disorder, “spread through groups by way of human’s unconscious social mimicry of one another 's behavior”(Szalavitz).
Case introduction: A 19 year-old gentlemen, SS, presented to station 20N through the emergency department, following what was described by friends and family as “bizarre behavior.” SS had recently begun college at a local liberal arts school. He had done well during the first semester, but began to struggle academically during the second semester. Family attributed the decline in academic success to an increase in class size, which made SS uncomfortable. Several weeks prior to hospital admission, SS became increasingly isolated, spending the majority of his time in the dorm room and less time in class. Friends and roommates reported that SS was exhibiting bizarre behavior, often confiding in friends that he was being “spied on” by others and that people around him could “read his thoughts.” SS also endorsed a strange delusion in which those around him would blink simultaneously as a form of communication. All of the aforementioned events became overly distressing to SS and his family, so they sought medical help. SS had a limited psychiatric history for which he had seen a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist had put him on an anti-psychotic medication some months prior, but SS self-discontinued the medication after just a several week trial. As a result of the above, and a lack of explanation regarding the past psychiatric referral, the events were described as “first-episode psychosis.” Discussion regarding the diagnostic work-up followed.
Now when one reads this definition generally a picture of a miniscule insect that sucks our blood and can perpetually give us Lyme disease is pieced together – but, fair reader, is there something more to this definition? In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella this study of a parasite and a host is taken to a much bigger scale; showing how a parasite may not just be an insect but the evil that lurks within in every human being. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson explores the theme of vampirism through Hyde’s feeding upon Jekyll until he totally consumes him.
“Nosophobia and hypochondriasis in medical students”. Wikipedia, encyclopedia. 20 May 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosophobia. Web. 15 Ap 2014.
In conclusion, somatoform disorders must be treated with caution. Upsetting a patient or even digging too far to find information or a cause of a disease could potentially make the patient even worse. Those professionals using the DSM-V on a regular basis must be aware the changes and the progression the DSM will continue to make. Different symptoms may include pain, gastrointestinal complaints, sexual symptoms and neurological problems. Different disorders include somatization, hypochondriasis, conversion, body dysmorphic disorder, pseudocyesis, and both pain and undifferentiated somatization in conjunction with PTSD.
The obsessive-compulsive’s style of functioning is composed of excessive rigidity, the distortion of their subjective experience of autonomy, and the loss of reality. The obsessive-compulsive is highly resistant to the influences of others due to a restriction of cognition. Suspicious thinking and a loss of reality characterize the paranoid style. Projection is the paranoid persons’ primary defense. Paranoid people are chronically suspicious, contributing substantially to their loss of reality. The paranoid actively scans his environment, searches to confirm his suspicions, and ignores evidence that denies what he suspects to be true. The two styles are much alike; they both have a way of having loss of reality at times
...under the radar of detection. It can ruin someone’s credibility of one day really being sick, such as the fairytale story of The Boy That Cried Wolf. I hope that more instances will be researched and documented for the future of society. Factitious Disorders waste time and money that are needed for those that are sick, not those that become aroused from the sympathetic gestures that they receive.
Some of the disorders listed in the DSM-5 contain clusters of symptoms, however many disorders are now on a spectrum with other closely related disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It is important to remember that clients frequently do not meet all of the criteria for a given disorder, and there may be overlapping symptoms across multiple disorders that warrant clinical attention. Thus, the boundaries between various disorders can easily become blurred. Clinicians often have to give a diagnosis fairly quickly, particularly when seeking third party reimbursement. And, while a diagnosis should not be given solely for reimbursement purposes, giving a diagnosis is often a time-sensitive process. INSERT CODE OF ETHICS. Helping professionals can do harm to clients when an inaccurate diagnosis is given, particularly because the diagnosis is a key element when making treatment decisions....
The concept of the delusional disorder has both a very short history, formally, but a very long history when one integrates reports and observations over the last 150 years. The term of delusional disorder was only coined in 1977. Manschreck (2000) used this term to describe an illness with persistent delusions and stable course, separate though from delusions that occur in other medical and psychiatric conditions. However, the concept of paranoia has been used for centuries. Originally, the word paranoia comes from Greek para, meaning along side, and nous, meaning mind intelligence (Munro, 1999). The Greeks used this term to describe any mental abnormalities similar to how we use the word insanity. In the modern world, the term reappeared ...
To be clear, psychosis is more of a symptom of a mental disorder rather than a mental disorder of its own. This phenomenon “means experiencing things and believing them to be real when they are not; in other words, losing contact with reality” (Medical News Today, 2014). Hallucinations and delusions are two signs of psychosis which include seeing things that are not there, hearing voices, and believing in irrational thoughts. Hallucinations mainly deal with sensory experiences such as hearing, seeing, touching, and smelling things that are not there. Delusions appear often in a person’s belief system. Delusions may include omniscient thoughts of oneself as far as beliefs that the government put microchips inside everyone’s brain. Psychosis is a symptom of a variety of mental disorders including Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Not only is psychosis a mere symptom of disorders, it also may derive from drug abuse, alcoholism, stress, childhood experiences, or any type of traumatic
Dr. Jules Cotard, was a French neurologist with a military background, who is most famous for the describing this mental condition in the 1880’s. Dr. Cotard died in the year of 1889. Cotard syndrome was named after him. He described these delusions as a certain severe forms of chronic anxiety. Dr. Cotard describes some of the six major symptoms, which are melancholic anxiety, ideas of damnation and diabolic possession, in other words demon-pathy, disposition towards suicide or self injury, analgesia, hypochondriac ideas of nonexistence or destruction of organs or the entire body, of the soul, or of God, etc.
As a student who is interested in psychology and the way the brain works/functions, learning about the somatic symptom disorder intrigues me. I have never actually heard of this disorder before, but hypochondria is about the closest to a somatic disorder that I have learned about. Now, the first thing that really caught my attention about this disorder was the definition about it, “People with somatic symptom disorder become excessively distressed, concerned, and anxious about bodily symptoms that they are experiencing, and their lives are greatly disrupted by the symptoms” (Comer, 2014). This blew my mind. I had always know about people thinking they have had every sickness or believe they are suffering from something they are not, I am also aware of the placebo effect, but the fact that people can create such strong distress in their lives from bodily symptoms they experience is something that brought out my curious nature of why and how. Another thing that is very interesting to me is that there are two patterns of somatic symptom disorder, called somatization pattern (the individual experiences a large and even varied number of bodily symptoms) and predominant pain pattern (which is the individual’s primary bodily problem being the experience of pain) (Comer, 2014).