A romantic delusion: de Clerambault's syndrome in dementia

Abstract

Erotromania (also known as de Clerambault's syndrome) is a rare disorder in which an individual has a delusional belief that a person of a socially higher standing falls in love with her/him. It has rarely been described in older people, but many cases have been reported in conjunction with psychiatric and neurological disorders. The purpose of this paper was to examine the phenomenon of erotomania in people with dementia. We carried out a search of electronic databases for literature on this subject. The search terms used were: erotomania, de Clerambault's syndrome, erotomanic delusion and dementia. The literature on erotomania in the course of dementia consists mostly of case reports and small samples of patients. Misinterpretation of events is common in brain disease, especially with diffuse or multifocal disorders, but erotomania has rarely been reported in dementia. The relationship between dementia and de Clerambault's syndrome remains uncertain. Erotic delusion arising late in life should be thoroughly investigated to rule out organicity.