Paraphrenia is a type of psychosis characterized by a single or cluster of delusions related to grandeur, jealousy, or persecution. It is considered a form of schizophrenia but has notable differences. The term was coined by Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum and was revived by Emil Kraepelin. Sigmund Freud theorized that paranoia should be treated as a separate disorder from schizophrenia. Patients with paraphrenia can act normally and maintain connections with others, unlike those with schizophrenia. Delusions, confabulation, and intrusive thoughts are common symptoms. Paraphrenia is rarely diagnosed and is not listed in the DSM or ICD.
Paraphrenia is a mental disorder, or psychosis, involving a single delusion or a cluster of delusions. This can be related to feelings of grandeur, jealousy, or persecution. It is considered a form of schizophrenia, although there are notable differences between the two conditions. There are several other terms for paraphrenia, which include paranoid-type schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia, paraphrenic schizophrenia, atypical psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, and delusional disorder.
German psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum is credited with coining the term, drawing from the Greek words “para” meaning “beyond” and “phren” meaning “mind.” He used it to describe and differentiate some forms of mental disorders, including paraphrenia hebetica for adolescents and paraphrenia senilis for elderly patients. It fell out of significant use in the medical world until 1919, when another German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, lumped a small group of cases under the umbrella of this particular psychotic illness. He has published his findings in the four volume treatise Dementia Praecox and Paraphrenia. Swiss psychiatrist Paul Eugen Bleuler suggested that the term “schizophrenia” should replace “dementia praecox”, thus establishing two different disorders.
In his writings from 1913 to 1917, the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud theorized that paranoia, which constitutes delusions with or without grandeur, should be treated as a separate mental disorder from schizophrenia. He stuck to this theory even when paranoia blurred the line between paraphrenia and schizophrenia. That claim has barely been challenged since.
The separation of paraphrenia from schizophrenia is based on the fact that patients of the former have the ability to act relatively normally and show no signs of intellectual decline. Also, unlike schizophrenia, people with paraphrenia can have and maintain a level of comfort and connection with other people. Notably, however, this disorder has characteristics similar to schizophrenia.
The most common symptom of paraphrenia is delusions, which involve holding untrue thoughts or beliefs. Confabulation, a rampant talk of events that never took place, is also common. Furthermore, intrusive thoughts can appear without warning or invitation and turn into annoying, unpleasant and indelible obsessions.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, paraphrenia was most commonly documented in Spain and Germany. However, there had not been systematic research into the disease since Freud’s time. Psychosis is rarely diagnosed. Also missing is a listing in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which specifically serves as a publication for the classification of mental illnesses; and in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which provides codes for a wide range of medical conditions.
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