Did You Know That Two People Can Share The Same Delusion?

Doctors Call This Folie A Deux

It Has Also Been Called Double Insanity

Usually It Happens Between Members Of A Close Family

The Condition Is Considered Rare But Likely Underdiagnosed

People With It Tend To Be Reluctant To Seek Medical Help

These Pairs Are Often Isolated From Other People

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A 30 Year Old Mother Came To A Mental Health Institute In India

Her 8 Year Old Son Was With Her

He Had Been Referred By The Children's Department

The Two Lived Together Away From The Rest Of Their Family

They Lived Mostly On Her Begging And Some Manual Labor

The Mother Was Divorced

Her Delusions Were Aimed At Her Husband And His Relatives

According To Her He Kept Visiting Her Son At School

She Accused Him Of Abusing And Torturing The Boy

Next She Showed Doctors The Normal Skin Creases In Her Son's Groin

In Her Account They Were Scars From Her Husband's Beatings

She Also Claimed Her Husband Had Removed The Boy's Kidney

While Saying This She Was Pointing Near His Testicles

In A Separate Interview The Boy Told The Same Story

He Showed The Doctors The Same Scar Marks

According To Him His Father And His Men Took Him Away In A Jeep

The Boy Said They Did This Regularly To Beat And Abuse Him

Neither Of Them Had Been In Contact With His Father For Many Years

Both Were Admitted To The Hospital

On The Second Day They Ran Away From The Ward

They Could Not Be Traced Afterward

The Condition Was Described Before It Had Its Current Name

In 1860 A Doctor Named Baillarger Called It Folie Communiquee

Then In 1877 Two French Psychiatrists Named It Folie A Deux

They Were Lasegue And Falret

Their Term Is Still The Best Known Name For It

Most Other Names Describe How It Seems To Pass Between People

Contagious Insanity And Infectious Insanity Are Two Of Them

Psychosis Of Association Is Another

Modern Diagnostic Manuals Use Different Terms

One Uses Induced Delusional Disorder

The Other Uses Shared Psychotic Disorder

Two Is Not Always The Limit

It Can Extend To Three Or Four Or Five People

A Whole Family Can Even Share It

That Version Is Known As Folie A Famille

In 1942 A Psychiatrist Named Gralnick Proposed A Classification

He Sorted It Into Four Main Types

In Folie Imposee The Delusion Passes To Someone Without Psychosis

Another Is Folie Simultanee Where Two People Fall Ill At Once

Many People With Schizophrenia Live Closely With Their Relatives

Yet In Those Homes The Delusions Are Not Shared

Few People Close To Someone With Delusions Ever Take Them On

So When It Does Happen Doctors Look For Special Factors

Two Researchers Named Dewhurst And Todd Set Out Three Criteria

First The Pair Must Have Lived In Close Association

Second The Content Of Their Delusions Must Be Very Similar

Third Each Must Support And Accept The Other's Delusions

This Mother And Son Met All Three

Her Doctors Wrote That Psychosis Is Rarely Contagious

In Fact They Said It Almost Never Passes Between People

Only Under A Few Specific Conditions Does It Happen

Social Isolation Is The Main One They Named

An Exact Figure For How Often It Occurs Is Not Available

Cases Have Been Reported Beyond Western Countries

Those Include Nigeria And India

It Is More Common In Isolated Communities And Families

The Authors Linked It To A Great Urge To Defend The Status Quo