Late paraphrenia. A case report

Abstract

Introduction Paraphrenia is a chronic delusion, which may or may not be accompanied by hallucinations, usually with a onset, and whose chronic course, unlike what it usually happens in schizophrenia, is not typically associated to the schizophrenic defect. When it appears in over 60-years-old people, we talk about paraphrenia. Objective Highlighting relevant aspects of paraphrenic symptoms and excluding entities such as Methods Bibliographical review in literature and pub med using as keywords: paraphrenia; megalomania; mystic-religious; late psychosis. Results We present the case of a 69-years-old woman who showed megalomania, mystic-religious delusions, demonic presence and kinaesthetic and visual hallucinations. Brain SPECT: data within normal limits, neuropsychological study: possible mild cognitive impairment. First contact with psychiatry at age 63. History of 3 psychiatric income with different diagnoses: dissociative state, acute polymorphic psychotic and frontotemporal dementia. The patient has been treated with different treatments (lithium, neuroleptics and benzodiazepines). Along the track has never been asymptomatic, presenting psychotic and affective semiology. Conclusions A paraphrenia case is shown. The study of senile psychoses has been traditionally full of controversies. Entities such as paraphrenia have been relegated in the current, however, it is a disorder with differential characteristics within the psychotic spectrum, so it seems wrong to do without the diagnosis.