title: A patient who changed my practice: The lady with a plumher in her roof.
abstract: The psychotic elderly patient described in this paper resisted treatment because her delusional beliefs gave her life some purpose and meaning. This case illustrates that clinicians need to be mindful that psychotic symptoms can serve an adaptive function for patients, and their removal may leave them with a void in their lives that they find difficult to tolerate.
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassett