Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Treatment resistant monosymptomatic hypochondriac psychosis: a case repo

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2013; 23: Supplement S146-S146
Read: 763 Published: 20 March 2021

Monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis is defined as delusional hypochondriacal symptoms without any other behavioral abnormalities. As a rare condition it is usually missed in differential diagnosis. Suicide can be an important complication of this disease. We aimed to discuss a patient with recurrent suicidal attempts. He was a forty-six years old, male, married patient. His complaints have begun as suffering from AIDS even after a protected sexual intercourse about two years ago. Because of engaging continuously with this idea and the loss of the functionality, sertraline 50 mg/day was started by family physician. The patient’s complaints have increased over time and he compulsively began to have HIV tests dozens of times. About a year ago he attempted a suicide attempt via oral intake of insecticide. Then, six months ago and one week before hospitalization, he repeatedly attempted suicide by oral intake of rodenticides. His thoughts were evaluated as delusional in the follow up period. Combined high-dose antidepressant and antipsychotic treatment was used for a period of about six weeks, but because of lack of response to treatment, ECT was initiated. His depressive symptoms were improved but the delusional thoughts persisted. This case with monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychosis showed once more that this disorder is often missed by general physicians. This case has undergone to a lot of unnecessary medical interventions and become important for having recurrent suicidal attempts and being resistant to various treatment modalities.

EISSN 2475-0581