The nosological significance of Folie à Deux: a review of the literature.
BACKGROUND
Folie à Deux is a rare syndrome that has attracted much clinical attention. There is increasing doubt over the essence of the condition and the validity of the original description, such that it remains an elusive entity difficult to define.


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review of the literature of all cases reporting the phenomenon of Folie à Deux, from the years 1993-2005.


RESULTS
64 cases were identified of which 42 met the inclusion criteria. The diagnoses in the primary and secondary were more heterogeneous than current diagnostic criteria suggest. There exists a high degree of similarity between the primary and secondary in terms of susceptibility to psychiatric illness, family and past psychiatric history, than previously thought.


CONCLUSIONS
Folie à Deux can occur in many situations outside the confines of the current classification systems and is not as rare as believed, and should alert the clinician to unrecognized psychiatric problems in the secondary.
Arnone
Danilo
D
Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK. danilo.arnone@psych.ox.ac.uk
Patel
Anish
A
Tan
Giles Ming-Yee
GM