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.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Aachen, Germany.
Klaus
K
Podoll
Markus
M
Müller-Küppers
Hanns Jürgen
HJ
Kunert
Dieter
D
Wälte
Henning
H
Sass
Hermann
H
Ebel
Hans Friedrich
HF
Merk
Roland
R
Schulze-Röbbecke
Wolfgang
W
Dott
Gerhard Andreas
GA
Wiesmüller
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