De Clerambault Research Articles

From positive projection to delirium. About a case

IntroductionErotomania, was described in 1942, is more common in women than in men, although the incidence is unknown. This syndrome is usually characterized by a young woman with the illusion that a man whom she considers to be of a higher social or professional position is in love with her. Developing an elaborate delusional process about this man, his love, his pursuit and total commitment to the idea. Two forms, pure or secondary, are described. As well as fixed or recurring52-year-old female patient in outpatient follow-up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia with long-term follow-up, start of follow-up by a new therapist, in this context intensive follow-up is carried out in the event of the appearance of pharmacological secondary effects, pharmacological readjustment is carried out with good results.During the joint follow-up with nursing, the cessation of secondaryisms is confirmed and we are informed of the gradual appearance of overvalued ideas in relation to the new therapist, which are gradually structured in the form of erotomanic delirium that coincides with the cessation of follow-up by said therapist. Consultations in the emergency room occur on a couple of occasions due to mild behavioral alterations secondary to messages and communications that he reports receiving where said love is confirmed. Despite readjustments, there continues to be an increase in clinical symptoms due to abandonment of medication, finally producing serious alterations aimed at the search for said therapist, finally culminating in admission to the acute care unit for containment of said condition.ObjectivesThe objetives is the diferencial diagnosis, in this case symptoms could be classified as positive symptoms of schizophrenia, although it is its own nosological entity.Methods.Results.ConclusionsThis patient represents a classic example of De Clerambault syndrome and is a faithful expression of the recurrent syndrome associated with delusions of grandeur, eroticism and jealousy. There have also been ideas of reference and agitated behavior associated with his delusional process.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

L’art du sous-entendu: histoire, théorie, mode d’emploi by Laurent Pernot

Reviewed by: L’art du sous-entendu: histoire, théorie, mode d’emploi by Laurent Pernot Mike Edwards Laurent Pernot, L’art du sous-entendu: histoire, théorie, mode d’emploi. Paris: Fayard, 2018. 334 pp. ISBN: 9782213706054 In July 2008, on behalf of Laurent Pemot, I represented the International Society for the History of Rhetoric at The First Biennial Conference of the Chinese Rhetoric Society of the World. Since this global event was scheduled to take place less than a month before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, my first idea was to give a paper on ancient Olympic speeches. On second thoughts, I realized that talking about the content of Lysias 33, with its proposed attack on the despotic rulers of Persia and Syracuse, might be taken as a veiled reference to China’s socialist democracy—a sous-entendu. Twelve years later, with the Tokyo Olympics postponed because of a threat allegedly emanating from Japan’s old foe, I find myself reviewing a book written by Pemot that will become a standard work on the art of innuendo. Pemot covers an extensive range of material from Graeco-Roman antiquity to the present, to which this review cannot hope to do justice, with examples drawn from rhetorical works, other genres of literature, and elsewhere. Thus, in chapter 1 Pemot discusses types of sous-entendu (as often, the French word is best) in daily life, with politeness such as “you shouldn’t have” to mean “thank you” for a gift. There is an understandable French bias throughout, but Pemot’s versatility is indicated by analyses of authors such as George Orwell, Boualem Sansal, and Arthur Miller. Other topics include politics (the subtle war of words between Giscard d’Estaing and Mitterrand in 1974); fables and riddles (the Sphinx, naturally, but also Jean Paulhan with his translations of enigmatic Malagasy poetry); and conspiracy theory (such as Kennedy, Coluche, the Da Vinci Code). An excellent opening. Sous-entendu in the ancient world is the subject of chapter 2, where Pemot discusses the unsettled place of figured speech in rhetorical theory, and the frequently difficult relationships in declamation between fathers and sons that led to ambiguous remarks like “I married the woman who [End Page 94] pleased my father” (57). Pernot returns to antiquity in a very strong chapter 5 that examines how Greek authors represented Rome with figured speech. Here, on his specialist research terrain, he offers perceptive discussions of Dio Chrysostom’s On Kingship (cf. the much earlier treatment of the theme in Isocrates) and Aelius Aristides’ To Rome, highlighting the latter’s numerous significant omissions, not least of the word “Rome” itself (similarly, the story of Paul Valéry’s grudging eulogy of his illustrious predecessor in the Académie française, Anatole France, in which he managed to avoid using the name “Francé” in reference to his subject, is a little gem). Among the interesting topics of chapter 3 is connotation, as in publicity slogans like “Tendre est la nuit à bord du France” (69), which for Pernot might recall a line of Keats, a novel of Scott Fitzgerald, a film of Henry King or a song by Jackson Browne (yes: type “tender is the night” into Google). Analysis of literary critics (Barthes, Luc Fraisse, William Empson, Roger Callois) and Gide’s The Counterfeiters, with its expression mise en abyme, contributes to another excellent chapter. In chapter 4 Pernot turns to the risks attached to interpretation, especially when an unintended (often sexual) message is received. In the theatre this may be designed to cause laughter (Much Ado About Nothing), but there is nothing funny about De Clerambault’s Syndrome (erotomania). Pemot’s discussion references Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, but it made me think of Play Misty for Me. Arbeit macht frei? In chapter 6 Pernot turns to twentieth-century totalitarian regimes, focusing on the intellectual resistance to the Nazis of Louis Aragon in a poetic method he called “contrabande.” How could such works have escaped the censor (not all did)? One way was the use of historical parallels, as with Jules Isaac’s Les Oligarques and its analogy between ancient Athens under the Thirty and the German Occupation...

551 - Case Report: De Archambault’s syndrome in the early stage of dementia with Lewy bodies

Background:Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of degenerative dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. In some patients with DLB, relatively rare delusions are known to emerge, such as Othello syndrome, delusional parasitosis and delusion of duplication. Erotomania, also known as de Clerambault’s syndrome, is characterized by the delusion that a person has fallen in love with the patient. It occasionally appears secondary to psychiatric disorders and organic brain diseases. However, there have been no reports on cases secondary to patients with DLB.Case presentation:The patient was an 83-year-old woman who lived alone. Mild cognitive impairment appeared at the age of 82 years. Soon after, she had the delusional conviction that her family doctor was in love with her. Her symptoms, such as gradually progressive cognitive impairment, cognitive fluctuations, and parkinsonism, indicated DLB. Although small doses of quetiapine, brexpiprazole and risperidone were prescribed for the treatment of the delusion, each of them was discontinued soon because of the adverse reactions. Finally, the delusion was successfully treated with a small dose of blonanserin without sever side effects.Discussions and Conclusions:This case report suggests the possibility of de Clerambault’s syndrome during the early stages of DLB. Recently, psychiatric-onset DLB has increasingly gained attention in recent years. Further accumulation of knowledge about delusions in patients with DLB for an early diagnosis.

The de Clérambault syndrome: More than just a delusional disorder?

The de Clèrambault syndrome is a psychiatric condition characterized by the presence of a delusion in which the patient is convinced that another person has fallen in love with him or her. Patients usually believe that their lover is a person belonging to a higher social and economic class, or is already married, or even is imaginary or deceased person. In the majority of cases, the patients do not seek for psychiatric help, but usually is referred to the mental health care system due to behavioural consequences associated with the syndrome, including stalking behaviours (repetitive calling, unexpected visits or continuous attempts to send gifts or letters to the loved person). The name of the syndrome derives from the French psychiatrist Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault, who systematically described this syndrome in a series of patients. According to the modern classification systems, the syndrome is conceptualized as erotomanic subtype of the delusional disorder. However, the presence of delusions is not the only clinical feature of the syndrome. In fact, specific affective features are usually present, such as grandiosity, hypersexuality and promiscuity. Therefore, it has been argued that De Clèrambault syndrome should be considered as lying on the continuum of the spectrum of bipolar disorders. Those diagnostic uncertainties highlight the difficulties for clinicians to properly manage this syndrome and should represent a valid reason for rediscovering this almost neglected psychiatric syndrome.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

La ropa tendida al sol: velos y revelaciones

espanolEste articulo inicia a partir del analisis de una imagen de la cultura visual contemporanea masiva – que promociona una famosa marca de cafe–, con el proposito de sugerir que la “semiotica del velo” debe desarrollarse a manera de “semiotica de un velo”. Comprender el significado de este dispositivo cultural multifacetico requiere concebirlo no solo como un dispositivo general, sino tambien como un objeto singular. La semiotica, ciencia de los sistemas y las generalizaciones, debe, por lo tanto, potenciar su microanalisis con respecto al de otros tipos de herramientas. El articulo sostiene que la semiologia del velo de Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault ofrece una gran cantidad de ideas sobre los microsignificados que posee este elemento. Dicha afirmacion es aplicada a un estudio de caso: el microanalisis, a la maniere de Clerambault, del “sistema del velo” en la pelicula Una giornata particolare [Una jornada particular] (1977) del director Ettore Scola. English The article starts from the analysis of an image in contemporary mass visual culture — advertising a famous coffee brand — so as to suggest that the semiotics of the veil must develop as the semiotics of a veil. Understanding the meaning of this multifaceted cultural element requires grasping it not only as general device, but also as singular object. Semiotics, which is a science of systems and generalizations, must therefore empower its microanalysis with reference to other toolboxes. The article claims that Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault’s semiology of the veil offers a wealth of insights about the micro–significations of the veil. Such claim is applied to a case study: the micro–analysis, a la maniere de Clerambault, of the “system of the veil” in Ettore Scola’s movie Una giornata particolare [A Special Day] (1977).

A Case of erotomanic delusion in dementia

IntroductionIn dementia, delusions are common with prevalence up to 75%. However, erotomanic delusions, or De Clerambault's syndrome, are a rarity in dementia. To date, only six case-reports have been described in vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's dementia.ObjectivesTo present a case of De Clerambault's syndrome in an older adult diagnosed with vascular dementia.AimsTo review available literature on De Clerambault's syndrome in dementia.MethodsA case report is presented and discussed followed by a literature review.ResultsWe report a 72-year-old female with a history of right posterior cerebral artery infarction. The patient developed a sudden onset erotomanic delusion after she met a male patient of her age during her stay in a dementia day care center. She was agitated, disorientated, presented with confabulation, and showed a dysphoric mood. On MMSE she scored 14/30, the clock-drawing test revealed visuospatial deficits. On MRI, the right occipital lobe showed an encephalomalacia. The patient was treated with sertraline 50 mg/day and olanzapine 5 mg/day. Her erotomanic delusions improved after 3 months of treatment.ConclusionDe Clerambault's syndrome is a rare and poorly understood disorder with generally a poor response to treatment. Some cases were successfully treated with atypical anti-psychotics. However, further research is needed to explore the course and treatment of this delusion.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Erotomania – A review of De Clérambault's syndrome

IntroductionErotomania (also known as De Clerambault's syndrome) is usually described as a rare delusional syndrome characteristically involving an individual who believes that another person, typically of higher social, economic or political status, is in love with the individual. De Clerambault's syndrome remains a ubiquitous nosological psychiatric entity with uncertain prognosis that remains recognised as a subtype of delusional disorder in DSM 5.Objectives and aimsTo review the history of Erotomania as a nosological psychiatric entity, its clinical characteristics and course. Also to report some selected clinical cases.MethodsThe authors have conducted an online search on PubMed with MeSH words“erotomania”, “erotomaniac delusion” and “Clerambault” and systematically reviewed some case reports.ResultsErotomania is a relatively uncommon and misunderstood disorder characterised by the presence of a persistent erotic delusion. The individual (usually described as a woman) has had little or no contact with the other person who is perceived as watching over, protecting or following the individual. Despite various authors have described and named this syndrome, it was Clérambault who first classed the symptoms into the disorder he referred to as “psychose Passionelli” (1942). There are numerous theories as to the aetiology of this illness that is not uniquely associated with any specific disorder. We reviewed some clinical cases.ConclusionsErotomania is a relatively uncommon psychiatric disorder. An increased awareness and understanding of this illness will assist in the recognition of patients affected, opening doors for future progress on its aetiology and, therefore, the development of new treatment options.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Erotomania and mood disorder: A case report and literature review

IntroductionErotomania is a rare delusional disorder. De Clerambault, a French psychiatrist, was the first who advanced the concept of pure erotomania, one of the “passionate psychosis”, as a distinct disorder. However, some authors tend to consider this syndrome as related to other psychiatric disorders.ObjectivesTo describe the case of a female patient with erotomanic delusion with no remission under an antipsychotic and to review the links between erotomania and other psychiatric disorders.MethodsLiterature review and a case report.ResultsWe report the case of a 32 year-old epileptic woman, hospitalized for a delusional erotomanic disorder. Initially, the patient was treated with an antipsychotic, with partial effectiveness. In fact, it appeared that the conviction of being loved began while she was depressed. After one month of combined antipsychotic and antidepressive medication, she became euthymic and her erotomanic delusions disappeared. Major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms was diagnosed. After reviewing the literature we found that erotomanic symptoms frequently appear secondarily in other psychiatric disorders. Several publications indicate a frequent association between erotomania and mood disorder, especially bipolar affective disorder and major depression, and describe the efficacy of antidepressant and mood stabilizers. Numerous theories may explain the link between erotomania and mood disorder: from narcissistic needs, to the capacity of empathy and emotional processing. Further studies are needed to clarify the nature of this link.ConclusionIn clinical practice, a mood disorder must systematically be searched for and treated in a patient with erotomanic delusions.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

When a man loves a woman: A case of erotomania in the 21st century

IntroductionErotomania, or De Clerambault's Syndrome, was first described in 1921. However, cases of Insane Love were long known before. Presently, this condition is classified as a delusional disorder typically affecting women. However, in forensic samples, most of these reports relate to men with violent behaviour, associated to harassing or stalking of a woman.ObjectiveTo present the case of a man, diagnosed with Erotomania and literature review of similar cases.AimTo bring awareness to the infrequent diagnosis of this condition in males and the legal implications this condition may have.MethodsConsultation of the patient's clinical process and published articles focusing on Erotomania in men.ResultsA 50-year-old man was referred from Court for persistently stalking a woman on the past few years. He revealed erotomanic and persecutory delusions, believing these accusations were all part of a scheme to restrain his alleged relationship.There was a clinical improvement during hospitalization and treatment with antipsychotics. Due to the legal process in court, a forensic examination was also performed.ConclusionsOn the follow-up, the patient remained stabilized. He would not verbalize any delusional content, and calmly deny any inadequate behaviour. However, some of his stalking attitude remains. As many of these patients, we believe his delusion is still present, although his behaviour is more controlled with treatment. Recognizing the characteristics and course of this disorder in our patients, grants a better chance of intervention and attentiveness towards the legal implications that may arise.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Erotomania and Mood Disorder : a Case Report and Literature Review

Introduction Erotomania is a rare delusional disorder. De Clerambault, a French psychiatrist, was the first who advanced the concept of pure erotomania, one of the ‘passionate psychosis', as a distinct disorder. However, some authors tend to consider this syndrome as related to other psychiatric disorders. Objectives To describe the case of a female patient with erotomanic delusion with no remission under an antipsychotic and to review the links between erotomania and other psychiatric disorders. Methods Literature review and a case report Results We report the case of a 32 year-old epileptic woman, hospitalized for a delusional erotomanic disorder. Initially, the patient was treated with an antipsychotic, with partial effectiveness. In fact, it appeared that the conviction of being loved began while she was depressed. After one month of combined antipsychotic and antidepressive medication, she became euthymic and her erotomanic delusions disappeared. Major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms was diagnosed. After reviewing the literature, we found that erotomanic symptoms frequently appear secondarily in other psychiatric disorders. Several publications indicate a frequent association between erotomania and mood disorder, especially major depression and bipolar affective disorder, and describe the efficacy of antidepressant and mood stabilizers. Numerous theories may explain the link between erotomania and mood disorder : from narcissistic needs, to the capacity of empathy and emotional processing. Further studies are needed to clarify the nature of this link. Conclusion In clinical practice, a mood disorder must systematically be searched for and treated in a patient with erotomanic delusions.

Touches, Traces and Times

tAlthough this is officially an 'unthemed' issue of New Formations - collecting simply the best unsolicited submissions received by the journal over the past two years - the resonances and convergence between its various contributions are remarkable. Every article here is concerned in one way or another with issues around the theorisation of experience, affect, and temporality: with the technologically, temporally and socially distributed nature of experience. Several essays concern themselves in novel ways with the unstable relationship between the interior self and the surfaces on which it is reflected or expressed, and whose interrelationships are its condition of im/possibility. The irreducibly social and technological character of existence is a key theme which runs across several contributions. The historical specificity and/or the conceptual insufficiency of orthodox psychoanalytic doctrines is a recurring theme, explored here in an array of polemical and analytic contexts. The importance of the early twentieth century as a key point of historical and intellectual reference comes up in several different ways, even while other key moments - from the moment of Kant's formulation of the modern subject to the events of 1968 to the present day - are crucial as well.Lisa Baraitser's essay considers the return of the 'peace camp' form of protest which has characterised recent pro-democracy uprisings, and re-reads Luisa Passerini's classic 1988 study, Autobiography of a Generation: Italy, 1968, as a way of understanding the intergenerational dynamics of protest. Baraitser argues that through an engagement with the psychoanalytic tropes of rememoration and delayed action, we can see how this text both engages and reverses the classic feminist slogan, 'the personal is political', showing that it is through a capacity to attach to one's own generation and to establish retroactively the lateral relations of 'my time', that the work of psychoanalysis can take place. Drawing on Bracha Ettinger's notion of the matrixial, the paper further proposes that this capacity for attachment to 'my time', is linked to what it is not possible to separate from, lose, or abject, which Ettinger traces as an alternative substrata to psychic life, marked in the feminine as a form of positive difference. Baraitser reads the matrixial in political rather than personal terms, linking it to a return to the aesthetics of communal living proposed by the 'peace camp'. The paper concludes by tying together the double meaning of generation: generation as the collective time-frame of the political with generation as the matrixial substratum of psychic life.Victoria Coulson makes a comparably radical engagement with psychoanalytic theory, contending that contemporary practices of literary criticism continue to reproduce and reiterate idealist propositions about the nature of subjectivity and the mind/body split. To explore this claim, her essay examines the reception by late twentieth- and early twenty-first century Anglophone scholarship of Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault's work on shoplifting in fin-de-siecle Parisian department stores. The essay demonstrates that recent scholarship on de Clerambault reproduces the idealist assumptions that informed critical accounts of his work in the early 1990s, and locates these philosophical postulates within two interrelated poststructuralist interventions that enjoyed significant intellectual prestige in the 1980s and 1990s: the critique of the 'culture of consumption,' and the feminist deployment of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. The article proposes that a new interpretation of de Clerambault's work may challenge the sexual politics of the philosophical idealism that structured some of the most influential feminist scholarship of the poststructuralist era, and that continues to shape critical thinking today.Rex Ferguson's essay covers adjacent ground, examining the emergence of new conceptions of selfhood, memoration, depth and surface around the turn of the twentieth century. …

'stealing Silk is My Delight': Gaëtan Gatian De Clérambault and the Sexual Politics of Poststructuralist Feminism

This essay contends that contemporary practices of literary criticism unreflectively reiterate distinctive propositions about subjectivity that derive from a long tradition of idealist philosophy. It is a tradition of thinking predicated on a splitting of the mind from the body to enable the philosophical subject to transcend death by disavowing the material object world. To explore this claim, the essay examines the reception by late twentieth- and early twenty-first century Anglophone scholarship of Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault’s work on shoplifting in fin-de-siecle Parisian department stores. The essay demonstrates that recent scholarship on de Clerambault reproduces the idealist assumptions that informed critical accounts of his work in the early 1990s, and locates these philosophical postulates within two interrelated modes of poststructuralist scholarship that enjoyed significant intellectual prestige in the 1980s and 1990s: the critique of the ‘culture of consumption,’ and the feminist deployment of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. The essay proposes that a new interpretation of de Clerambault’s work may challenge the sexual politics of the philosophical idealism that structured some of the most influential feminist scholarship of the poststructuralist era, and that continues to shape critical thinking today.

Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault (1872–1934) II. Son héritage psychiatrique

The name of G. de Clerambault is nowadays used to designate two distinct psychiatric syndromes: in France and in Russia, the “mental automatism”; in USA and Great Britain, the erotomanic delusion. The mental automatism becomes Clerambault's syndrome at the congress of French alienists of Blois (1927), by the proposition of Angelo Hesnard. The denomination is adopted by Eugen Minkowski in 1933, whereas Clerambault is still alive. The “great automatism” includes the “first rank symptoms” of the schizophrenia described by Kurt Schneider (1939). The symptoms of the “little automatism” are near from the schizophrenic thought disorders of Bleuler (De Morsier, 1929; Heuyer, 1950). Better than the theory of John Hughlings Jackson, they foreshadow the dichotomy between positive and negative symptoms in the schizophrenia (Berrios). The divergences with the “organo-dynamic” theory of Henri Claude and of his pupil Henri Ey (1934, 1948) are more about the psychopathology of the hallucinations, in relation to the delusion, than about the organic origin of the syndrome. “Pure” erotomanic delusion is discussed by Capgras (1923) and then by the pupils of Henri Claude (Lacan, 1932, Ferdière, 1937). It is named Clerambault's syndrome 20years later in the American textbooks of psychiatry (Arieti, 1959; Lehman, 1967). Its comorbidity with several other psychiatric disorders is described in many papers. An “erotomanic type” of the delusional disorder is isolated in the DSM-III-R. After their quarrel of 193l, Jacques Lacan makes a “return to Clerambault” in the years following the 2nd World War and presents him as his “only master in psychiatry” (1966). Many influential French psychiatrists (Guiraud, Heuyer, Daumezon, Baruk, Sivadon) present him as a pionneer. At the end of the 20th century, a biography and a film are exclusively devoted to him.

A romantic delusion: de Clerambault's syndrome in dementia

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.

A Comprehensive Introduction to Lacan's Theories of Psychosis

A Comprehensive Introduction to Lacan's Theories of Psychosis

Lennard J Davis, Obsession: a history, Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 290, £14.50, $27.50 (hardback 978-0-226-13782-7).

Lennard J Davis, Obsession: a history, Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 290, £14.50, $27.50 (hardback 978-0-226-13782-7).

Eponyms of 'romantic science'

Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Biographia literaria, XV1, 182) Professor Douwe Draaisma published Disturbances of the Mind in Dutch in 2006. Cambridge University Press has now made it available (Draaisma, 2009 a ) to English readers by publishing Barbara Fasting’s translation. Douwe Draaisma has already enjoyed popular acclaim for his books, which include Metaphors of Memory (2001) and Why life speeds up as you get older (2004). The historical essays in Disturbances of the Mind cover well-trodden ground, but the style and writing are refreshingly different from most published articles and books relating to these subjects. The topics subsume both classical, organic neurological diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders with a mixture of organic and psychogenic aetiologies. The contents include: Parkinson’s disease, Phineas Gage’s cranial injury, Broca’s area, Jacksonian epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and Brodmann’s areas; as well as the syndromes of Bonnet, Korsakoff, Gilles de la Tourette, Clerambault, Capgras and Asperger. An intriguing book, it not only acquaints us with the tales of how these selected disorders were originally described, but also raises many issues that relate generally to biography, and to the value and limitations of the use of eponyms themselves. The author shrewdly but controversially observes that what happens after a first description is more important than the discovery itself. He glides seamlessly from his well-referenced eponymous descriptions to the subsequent developments in each topic, outlining more modern research data and opinions, and often conjecturing about the cause of the disorder. Draaisma does not refrain from controversy. He enlivens these yarns, and provides many fascinating, valuable clinical diversions and reference sources (displayed as footnotes) that, although not comprehensive, are nonetheless valuable because not all are widely known. The flavour …

Delusions and Hallucinations in Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is associated with marked behavior changes, but hallucinations and delusions are rare. To report a case of FTD with early and persistent delusions, including de Clerambault syndrome. We describe the clinical, neuroradiologic, and neuropathologic findings of a 76-year-old woman with an 11-year course of FTD with bizarre delusions and hallucinations. The patient's autopsy examination of the brain revealed pathology consistent with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive and transactive response (TAR)-DNA-binding protein-43-positive inclusions and hippocampal sclerosis. Delusions and hallucinations can occur in proven frontotemporal pathology.

Síndrome de Clérambault: desafio diagnóstico e terapêutico

A síndrome de Clérambault, ou erotomania, é descrita como uma convicção delirante, apresentada, geralmente, por uma mulher que acredita que um homem, mais velho e de posição social mais elevada, ama-a. O paciente persegue o objeto de amor e, por isso, eventualmente, envolve-se em retaliações e ameaças em resposta às repetidas rejeições. Relata-se o caso de uma mulher de 42 anos que iniciou quadro delirante há 19 anos, após primeira gestação. Foi admitida em nosso serviço há 3 meses. No início do tratamento, quando o antipsicótico foi introduzido, apresentou remissão do delírio. Essa síndrome é incomum, mas não significa que seja rara em nossa prática. Um bom entendimento da extensão psicopatológica pode aumentar o reconhecimento dessa condição psiquiátrica.

De Clerambault syndrome successfully treated with olanzapine

De Clerambault syndrome successfully treated with olanzapine