Mummification and folie à deux.
Mummification is the preservation of the effects and/or corpse of a loved one. Psychiatric literature regarding this condition is reviewed and a case is presented in which a mother's paranoid psychosis is discovered following her apparent mummification of her son's corpse. In retrospect, it appears that a diagnosis of folie à deux pertained to this pair. The authors contend that mummification may represent the outcome of a shared delusional system and that failure to establish psychiatric diagnoses in those who practice mummification has been the result of inherent difficulties in diagnosing paranoid disorders.
Boughton
D P
DP
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55102.
Popkin
M K
MK
D000368:Aged; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009735:Nursing Homes; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012753:Shared Paranoid Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D012934:Social Isolation