Shared obsessive-compulsive disorder: broadening the concept of shared psychotic disorder.
OBJECTIVE
Folie a deux (shared psychotic disorder) is often described in the context of schizophrenia. In this article we present this syndrome in a non psychotic context.


METHODS
We report a case of induced obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a married couple. Six months after the deterioration in the patient's OCD, his wife developed the same symptoms with no preceding history of an Axis I disorder. Neither spouse demonstrated psychotic symptomatology. The husband was successfully treated on an outpatient basis with Citalopram and Clonazepam. His wife's OCD spontaneously resolved without medication in parallel with the resolution of her husband's OCD.


RESULTS
We highlight the uncommon phenomenon of shared psychiatric disorder occurring in the context of OCD. In the current psychiatric diagnostic nomenclature, (DSM IV and ICD10), there is no category for a non-psychotic shared psychiatric disorder. We raise the question of broadening the concept of shared disorder so as to include shared OCD and perhaps other shared psychiatric syndromes.


CONCLUSIONS
More controlled studies are required in order to better understand the psychopathology and mechanisms of psychotic and non-psychotic shared disorders in psychiatry. We believe there are important treatment implications of such an understanding.
Mergui
Joseph
J
Department of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Hebrew University, POB: 3235, 91031, Jerusalem, Israel. jmerg@szmc.org.il
Jaworowski
Sol
S
Greenberg
David
D
Lerner
Vladimir
V
D015283:Citalopram / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002998:Clonazepam / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D018757:GABA Modulators / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012753:Shared Paranoid Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D015283:Citalopram; D002998:Clonazepam; D018757:GABA Modulators; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors