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Folie à Quatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. C. P. Sims
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TJ
P. H. Salmons
Affiliation:
Hollymoor Hospital, Birmingham
Philippa Humphreys
Affiliation:
All Saints Hospital, Birmingham

Summary

A case of folie à quatre is described affecting a proband and his wife, sister and brother. The three family members retained their symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. The wife was not mentally ill and her delusions disappeared in time (folie imposée). Coincidentally, there were several cases of Huntington's chorea amongst her relatives. Different categories of folie à deux are demonstrated in the various family members and relationships.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1977 

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