Folie à Cinq: A Clinical Study

¹ Neuropsychiatrist and Lecturer, Baghdad University, Iraq

A case of "folie à Cinq" in a family unit of five individuals, the mother, two sons and two daughters, is reported. The family unit showed no previous family history of insanity. There was no evidence of a pre-morbid psychotic or psychoneurotic predisposition. The principles of psychopathology and the dynamics of production of the syndrome in general and the present case in particular have been discussed. Some special and interesting features of the case relating to the speed of induction and the shifting source of induction have been pointed out. The family unit continues to share the same delusional system up to the time of writing this paper which is more than five years since the onset of the illness. Two short remissions with subsequent relapses following separation and treatment have been observed.