Paraphrenia

Paraphrenia
Other namesParaphrenic syndrome
SpecialtyPsychiatry

Paraphrenia is a mental disorder characterized by an organized system of paranoid delusions with or without hallucinations (the positive symptoms of schizophrenia) and without deterioration of intellect or personality (its negative symptom).[1][2][3]

This disorder is also distinguished from schizophrenia by a lower hereditary occurrence, less premorbid maladjustment, and a slower rate of progression.[4] Onset of symptoms generally occurs later in life, near the age of 60.[2][5] The prevalence of the disorder among the elderly is between 0.1% and 4%.[1]

Paraphrenia is not included in the DSM-5; psychiatrists often diagnose patients presenting with paraphrenia as having atypical psychosis, delusional disorder, psychosis not otherwise specified, schizoaffective disorders, and persistent persecutory states of older adults.[4] Recently, mental health professionals have also been classifying paraphrenia as very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis.[4]

In the Russian psychiatric manuals, paraphrenia (or paraphrenic syndrome) is the last stage of development of paranoid schizophrenia. "Systematized paraphrenia" (with systematized delusions i. e. delusions with complex logical structure) and "expansive-paranoid paraphrenia" (with expansive/grandiose delusions and persecutory delusions) are the variants of paranoid schizophrenia (F20.0).[6] Sometimes systematized paraphrenia can be seen with delusional disorder (F22.0).[6] The word is from Ancient Greek: παρά – beside, near + φρήν – intellect, mind.

  1. ^ a b Almeida, O. P., Howard, H. F., & Levy, R. (1992). Late paraphrenia: a review. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 7, 543-548.
  2. ^ a b Roth, M. (1955). The natural history of mental disorder in old age. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 281-301
  3. ^ Roth, M. & Kay, D. W. K. (1998). Late paraphrenia: A variant of schizophrenia manifest in late life or an organic clinical syndrome? A review of recent evidence. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 775-784
  4. ^ a b c Casanova, M. F. (2010). The pathology of paraphrenia. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12, 196-201.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Almeida,1995 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Сметанников, П. Г. (2002). Психиатрия: Краткое руководство для врачей [Psychiatry: A Brief Guide for Physicians] (in Russian). Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix (Феникс). pp. 157, 165. ISBN 5-222-02133-5.