Environmental factors as delusional contents in patients with schizophrenia.
In a series of 50 consecutive cases in the outpatients' unit of Environmental Medicine (UEM) at the University Hospital of Aachen, Germany, five patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia presented delusions of being poisoned by environmental factors. This case report illustrates the clinical features of the paranoid type of schizophrenic psychoses. Schizophrenia represents an important differential diagnosis in the interdisciplinary diagnosis and management of health problems attributed to environmental factors.
Podoll
Klaus
K
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Germany.
Müller-Küppers
Markus
M
Kunert
Hanns Jürgen
HJ
Wälte
Dieter
D
Sass
Henning
H
Ebel
Hermann
H
Merk
Hans Friedrich
HF
Schulze-Röbbecke
Roland
R
Dott
Wolfgang
W
Wiesmüller
Gerhard Andreas
GA
D003702:Delusions / Q000209:etiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018876:Environmental Illness / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology