Clinical Characterization, Course, and Treatment of Othello Syndrome: A Case Series and Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND: Othello syndrome (OS) is a condition characterized by a delusion of jealousy that one's spouse is having extramarital affairs. As in the eponymous Shakespearean tragedy, there is an unfortunate risk of violence. For patients with these symptoms, consultation-liaison psychiatrists may be asked to assist with evaluating the differential diagnosis, assessing safety, and developing treatment options. OBJECTIVE: This study's objective was to solidify current knowledge of the clinical presentations and management of OS through a systematic review of the literature and description of 2 new cases. METHODS: We conducted a literature search from the start of relevant databases through August 2023 to identify English language case reports of adults (≥18 years) with OS that described clinical evaluations, biological treatments, and outcomes. We extracted demographics, proposed etiologies, treatment choices and responses, duration of delusions, comorbid psychiatric symptoms, neuro-radiographic findings, and presence of physical violence. We reported clinical findings for 2 new cases. RESULTS: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we screened 705 abstracts and conducted full-text reviews of 118 articles to identify 73 cases published from 1983 to 2023 meeting inclusion criteria. The mean age was 58.2 years with male predominance (M:F = 1.88). Etiologies included primary psychiatric disorders (16, 22%), other medical conditions (38, 52%), and medications or other substances (19, 26%). Delusional disorder, cerebrovascular accident, and dopaminergic agonists were the most common etiologies, respectively, in these groups. Antipsychotics were the most common treatment (57, 78%). Symptom remission was reported in 51 (70%) cases. The average duration of OS was 39.5 months. Of 32 cases reporting brain imaging insults, 12 of 20 (60%) showed right-sided lesions, and 8 of 20 (40%) showed left-sided lesions, with 9 of 32 (28%) located in the frontal lobes. The most commonly co-existing psychiatric symptom was depression (14, 19%). Violence was reported in 25 cases (34%). Our 2 new cases were consistent with these findings. CONCLUSIONS: OS may be a manifestation of several neuropsychiatric conditions, primarily delusional disorder, cerebrovascular accident, Alzheimer's dementia, and the use of dopaminergic agonists. One-third of cases include violent behaviors. It appears to respond to antipsychotic medications, but treatment is delayed more than 3 years on average. Available data have not localized OS to a specific brain region.

CLINICAL AND GENETIC FEATURES OF PERSONALIZED ANTIPSYCHOTIC THERAPY OF PATIENTS WITH PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA OF THE KAZAKH ETHNIC GROUP IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN.

The problems of schizophrenia therapy occupy a leading place in both foreign and domestic clinical psychiatry. The paper presents the results of a study to identify reliable biomarkers for predicting antipsychotic therapy of patients with paranoid schizophrenia of the Kazakh ethnic group in the Republic of Kazakhstan, conducted within the framework of the project: "National program for the introduction of personalized and preventive medicine in the Republic of Kazakhstan" IRN ОР12165486. The effectiveness and tolerability of antipsychotic drugs used in the treatment of paranoid schizophrenia in the Republic of Kazakhstan according to clinical treatment protocols are analyzed. Gender and age-specific dynamics in the clinic of paranoid schizophrenia in antipsychotic therapy in persons of Kazakh ethnicity are described. Certain genetic features of representatives of the Kazakh ethnic group have been identified, which can influence the effectiveness and tolerability of antipsychotic drugs, which determines the basis of an innovative approach to personalized therapy of paranoid schizophrenia in patients of the Kazakh ethnic group in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

MISATTRIBUTION OF EMOTIONAL OVER-AROUSAL TO NEUTRAL FACES IN ACUTE PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA PSYCHOSIS.

INTRODUCTION: Misattribution of motivational salience to non-salient (neutral) stimuli could be viewed as a hallmark of psychosis in schizophrenia. Studies have recently revealed increased subjective experience of emotional arousal (EA) to neutral social stimuli in paranoid schizophrenia psychosis, suggesting a misattribution of emotional salience to them. We examined this phenomenon directly by quantifying the level of EA subjectively attributed to low-arousal, neutral-valenced faces. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A task for EA attribution to neutral (in the context of affective) facial expressions was applied to 44 actively psychotic paranoid schizophrenia inpatients and 44 well-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: Psychotic patients, compared with healthy controls, rated the neutral faces as more aroused (t (86) = 3.15, p =.001) thus misattributing emotional salience to them. DISCUSSION: This finding supports the hypothesis that over-assignment of EA to neutral faces could be viewed as a subclinical affective mechanism of the clinically manifested experience of delusional perception. CONCLUSION: The study provides the first direct empirical evidence for misattribution of emotional salience in terms of over-attribution of EA to neutral faces during acute paranoid schizophrenia psychosis.

SOCIAL COGNITION AND OXIDATIVE STRESS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS AND FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES OF PATIENTS.

BACKGROUND: Misattribution of motivational salience to non-salient (neutral) stimuli could be viewed as a hallmark of psychosis in schizophrenia. Studies have recently revealed increased subjective experience of emotional arousal (EA) to neutral social stimuli in paranoid schizophrenia psychosis, suggesting a misattribution of emotional salience to them. We examined this phenomenon directly by quantifying the level of EA subjectively attributed to low-arousal, neutral-valenced faces. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with remitted schizophrenia (PG) (n=26), first-degree relatives of schizophrenic patients (RG) (n=25), and healthy controls (HCG) (n=36) were compared in terms of oxidative stress parameters -serum Superoxide Dismutase, Catalase, Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx), Nitrite, Nitrate, Malondialdehyde, and Total Glutathione levels-, social cognition measured by the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and working memory measured by the N-back Task. Groups were compared, assuming that HCG had a genetically lower risk of schizophrenia compared to PG and RG. RESULTS: HCG performed significantly better than PG and RG, who were genetically at high risk, in terms of social cognition (respectively p=0.000, p=0.014), working memory (respectively p=0.001, p=0.003), and had statistically lower Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX) level than the PG and RG (both p:0.000). After controlling for the effect of the general intellectual abilities measured by the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices Test and working memory the differences between groups on the Eyes Test disappeared (p=0.057). However, this value tended to be significant. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that social cognition and working memory and GPx level may be used as endophenotypes and social cognition, working memory, and general intellectual skills are different but strongly related constructs. Endophenotypes guide treatment targets even after the disease has developed. The results of our study showed that in addition to psychopharmacological treatments, interventions to reduce oxidative stress and approaches to improve cognitive skills will have a positive impact on the disease's progression.

Conceptualizing a less paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia stands as one of the most studied and storied disorders in the history of clinical psychology; however, it remains a nexus of conflicting and competing conceptualizations. Patients endure great stigma, poor treatment outcomes, and condemnatory prognosis. Current conceptualizations suffer from unstable categorical borders, heterogeneity in presentation, outcome and etiology, and holes in etiological models. Taken in aggregate, research and clinical experience indicate that the class of psychopathologies oriented toward schizophrenia are best understood as spectra of phenomenological, cognitive, and behavioral modalities. These apparently taxonomic expressions are rooted in normal human personality traits as described in both psychodynamic and Five Factor personality models, and more accurately represent explicable distress reactions to biopsychosocial stress and trauma. Current categorical approaches are internally hampered by axiomatic bias and systemic inertia rooted in the foundational history of psychological inquiry; however, when such axioms are schematically decentralized, convergent cross-disciplinary evidence outlines a more robust explanatory construct. By reconceptualizing these disorders under a dimensional and cybernetic model, the aforementioned issues of instability and inaccuracy may be resolved, while simultaneously opening avenues for both early detection and intervention, as well as for more targeted and effective treatment approaches.

Reshaping the diagnostic borders: Historical analysis of the diagnostic changes following the introduction of the schizophrenia concept.

BACKGROUND: Although the concept of schizophrenia is still widely presented as having replaced that of dementia praecox, studies have shown that the former was broader than the latter, resulting in a more complex diagnostic redistribution. However, this is poorly documented by quantitative approaches. AIMS: We sought to test the hypothesis that the use of the concept of schizophrenia had caused a diagnostic redistribution and to quantify it. METHOD: A retrospective study, based on admission register archives of the Strasbourg University Clinic of Psychiatry was conducted. The frequency of diagnoses given to patients were examined at two key time periods: one before (TP1) and one after (TP2) the introduction of the schizophrenia concept (established between 1926 and 1928). Eight main diagnoses related to schizophrenia were considered. RESULTS: Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia at TP2 mainly received the diagnoses of dementia praecox but also depression, hebephrenia, manic depressive illness, hysteria, paraphrenia, catatonia and mania at TP1. Dementia praecox and hebephrenia were the most relayed by schizophrenia. Bayesian sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of our data against distinct scenarios challenging our hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm the broadening of the concept of schizophrenia compared to that of dementia praecox but also qualify the different concepts supposed to have been impacted. They provide unique quantitative data that define the contours of the diagnostic redistribution thus provoked. They also give relevant input in the current context where the need to rethink the DSM/ICD concept of schizophrenia is still debated.

Functional and clinical outcomes of delusional disorder and schizophrenia patients after first episode psychosis: a 4-year follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Literature has typically associated delusional disorder with a poorer prognosis relative to schizophrenia, without considering the confounding effect of age despite the differential age of onset. This study therefore aims to investigate the diagnostic stability, clinical, functional, and neurocognitive differences of Chinese first-episode psychosis age-matched patients with delusional disorder and schizophrenia at four years. METHODS: 71 delusional disorder and 71 age-matched schizophrenia patients were followed up for four years after their initial episode. Their symptoms, insight in psychosis, side effects of medication, medication compliance, functioning, and neurocognitive performance were assessed at four years. RESULTS: At four years, 65% of DD patients maintained the same diagnosis, while the rest shifted to SZ. Only those without a diagnostic shift were included in the analysis. Delusional disorder patients (n = 46) experienced greater general psychopathology and poorer insight, but better attitude towards medication than schizophrenia patients (n = 71). Social and occupational functioning, quality of life, and cognitive functioning, however, were similar in delusional disorder and schizophrenia patients. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that delusional disorder is less diagnostically stable than schizophrenia. Their outcomes in a Chinese population were largely similar at four years after removing the confounding age factor, implying that delusional disorder and schizophrenia may not be as distinct as previously thought.

Statistical shape analysis of corpus callosum in delusional disorder.

Neurobiological foundations of delusional disorder (DD) have been studied less with neuroimaging techniques when compared to other psychotic disorders. The present study aimed to delineate the neural substrates of DD by investigating neuroanatomical characteristics of the corpus callosum (CC) with statistical shape analysis (SSA) conducted on magnetic resonance images (MRI). Twenty (female:male=1:1) DSM-5 DD patients and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were included. High-resolution 3D T1 Turbo Field Echo MRI images were scanned with a 1.5 T MR device. The landmarks that were selected to determine the shape differences in CC were identified based on previous studies. Furthermore, constructed landmarks were determined and employed to better assess regional shape differences. There was no significant difference in the CC area in the mid-sagittal images between the DD patients and controls. However, DD patients exhibited a pattern of structural CC changes in various regions. The study findings emphasizes the variable subregional nature of CC in DD patients. Future SSA studies with larger samples could shed further light on DD etiology, diagnosis, classification and treatment options.

Hepatoxicity induced by clozapine: Case report and brief review.

INTRODUCTION: Antipsychotics are drugs that can produce transient elevations of hepatic enzymes. Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic used in treatment-resistant schizophrenia and there is evidence that it can produce elevations of hepatic transaminases, expression of liver damage in a hepatocellular pattern. METHODS: Case report and non-systematic review of the relevant literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A 39-year-old woman with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia attended the emergency department of a general hospital for nausea, vomiting and jaundice that appeared after the initiation of clozapine. There was no clinical improvement during hospitalisation, and death occurred after 44 days. LITERATURE REVIEW: Clozapine can increase the liver enzyme levels transiently and asymptomatically; however, there are clinical criteria that recommend the withdrawal of the antipsychotic. CONCLUSIONS: This is the third case reported in the literature of a fatal outcome of clozapine-induced hepatotoxicity.

ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC AND CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA OF THE KAZAKH ETHNIC GROUP IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN.

The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients of the Kazakh ethnic group suffering from paranoid schizophrenia were studied in order to increase the efficiency of providing them with specialized psychiatric care in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The analysis of social and demographic characteristics of the examined group of 1200 patients of the Kazakh population with a clinically verified diagnosis: "Paranoid schizophrenia" (F20.0) in the period from 2021 to 2023 showed that these were mainly people of average working age (31-50 years - 55.59%), a significant part of whom, despite a fairly good level of education, were socially maladapted in family and household terms, more than 80% of them had a disability due to mental illness, which it may indicate the severity of the underlying mental disorder. The analysis of clinical characteristics (according to the PANSS scale) showed that in patients with a continuous type of paranoid schizophrenia, the severity of mental disorders (93.06 points) significantly exceeded the same indicator in patients with an episodic type of the disease (76.87 points), mainly due to the difference in the scale of general psychopathological symptoms. It is established that for people of the Kazakh ethnic group suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, concomitant narcological pathology is not characteristic.

[An effect of antipsychotic and anticholinergic treatment on cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia]. / Vliyanie antipsikhoticheskoi i antikholinergicheskoi terapii na kognitivnye funktsii u bol'nykh shizofreniei.

OBJECTIVE: To reveal the relationships between antipsychotic and anticholinergic drugs and cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The observational prospective study was conducted at the Bekhterev National Medical Center of Psychiatry and Neurology. The study involved 41 patients (22 men and 19 women) with paranoid schizophrenia, according to ICD 10 criteria, aged 30.12±8.24 years on stable antipsychotic monotherapy or in combination with anticholinergic drug (trihexiphenidyl). Cognitive functions were assessed using the «Brief Assessment of Cognitive Function in Patients with Schizophrenia¼ (BACS) scale, severity of mental state and extrapyramidal disturbances were measured using the «Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Simpson-Angus Scale for Assessment of Extrapyramidal Side Effects (SAS). All examination procedures were performed twice at weeks 2 and 8 of therapy. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the type of antipsychotic therapy. Twelve patients received first generation antipsychotics (FGAs) (group 1), 29 patients received second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) (group 2). RESULTS: Patients receiving SGAs had a significant decrease in the overall SAS score at week 8 of therapy compared with data at week 2, and there was an improvement in cognitive function, unlike patients receiving FGAs. There were also changes on BACS tests the digit sequencing (V=51.5, p=0.007), token motor task (V=75.5, p=0.007) and Tower of London (V=52, p=0.027) only in patients of group 2. CONCLUSION: The improved tolerance to the drug, as well as cognitive measures, was shown in patients taking SGAs by week 8. Our study confirms the importance of adhering to the minimum effective dose of antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia to prevent cognitive impairment, and to give preference to SGAs in the choice of treatment.

[Bimodal model of delusional psychoses (on the problem of the correlation of paranoid dimensions in the psychopathological space of schizophrenia)]. / Bimodal'naya model' bredovykh psikhozov (k probleme sootnosheniya paranoidnykh dimensii v psikhopatologicheskom prostranstve shizofrenii).

OBJECTIVE: To establish clinico-pathogenetic ratios of delusional psychoses constituting the psychopathological space of paranoid schizophrenia and to determine clinical and pathogenetic validity of concepts of a single delusional psychosis (a model of chronic delusion with a staged course) and two endogenous delusional psychoses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample consisted of 56 patients (19 women, 37 men; the average age 39.7±9.3 years; average duration of the disease 10.6±9.1 years) with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, continuous type of course (F20.00), developed at the age above 18 years. At the time of examination, the condition of the patients was determined by persistent delusional or hallucinatory delusional disorders. Clinical, pathopsychological, psychometric (SANS, SAPS, PANSS), immunological and statistical methods were used. RESULTS: The study substantiates a bimodal model of a single delusional psychosis with a polar arrangement of interpretive delusions and delusions of influence based on the phenomena of mental automatism, both in terms of the vector of development (toward the poles of negative/positive disorders) and in terms of the rate of progression. Psychopathological manifestations of interpretive delusions correlate with the slow evolving development of psychosis, the dimensional structure of the paranoid is limited to the limits of the delusional register; functional activity is represented by affiliation to negative changes, integration with personality anomalies ends with the transformation of positive disorders into pathocharacterological ones, corresponding to the post-processual development of the personality. Manifestation of delusional impact (syndrome of mental automatism) is manifested by the complication and maximum expansion of the spectrum of positive disorders; the dimensional structure is represented by a wide range of psychopathological disorders and is formed with the participation of processes of mental dissociation, reaching the level of delusional depersonalization; functional activity is high, which creates conditions for the formation of a «new¼ subpsychotic structure, a «psychotic character¼, which is an attenuated duplicate of delusional psychosis. In both groups of patients, a significant increase in the activity of inflammatory markers of leukocyte elastase (249.2 ((231.1-270.0); 272.2 (236.0-292.6) nmol/min∙ml) and alpha - 1 proteinase inhibitor (48.8 (46.0-55.0); 50.4 (42.1-54.8) IU/ml) was shown compared with controls (205.0 (199.8-217.3) nmol/min∙mL and 33.0 (31.0-36.0) IU/mL, p<0.01, respectively). In the group of patients with delusions of influence, an increased level of antibodies to S-100B was also observed (0.88 (0.67-1.0) opt.density units) compared with the control values (0.7 (0.65-0.77) opt.density units, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The concept of the model is supported by the results of the immunological study, according to which interpretive delusions and delusion based on the mental automatism, indicates the different level of immunity tension, and a qualitative changes in immune reactivity (also due to different genetic burden).

A Bayesian predictive processing account of Othello syndrome in Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Although delusions in Parkinson's disease (PD) are rare, when they occur they frequently take the form of "Othello syndrome": the irrational belief that a spouse or partner is being unfaithful. Hitherto dismissed as either a by-product of dopamine therapy or cognitive impairment, there are still no convincing theoretical accounts to explain why only some patients fall prey to this delusion, or why it persists despite clear disconfirmatory evidence.Methods: We discuss the limitations of existing explanations of this delusion, namely hyperdopaminergia-induced anomalous perceptual experiences and cognitive impairment, before describing how Bayesian predictive processing accounts can provide a more comprehensive explanation by foregrounding the importance of prior experience and its impact upon computation of probability. We illustrate this new conceptualisation with three case vignettes.Results: We suggest that in those with prior experience of romantic betrayal, hyperdominergic-induced aberrant prediction errors enable anomalous perceptual experiences to accrue greater prominence, which is then maintained through Bayes-optimal inferencing to confirm cognitive distortions, eliciting and shaping this dangerous delusion.Conclusions: We propose the first comprehensive mechanistic account of Othello syndrome in PD and discuss implications for clinical interventions.

Gender differences in the young-onset persistent delusional disorder.

We conducted a retrospective chart review to examine the gender differences in young onset Persistent Delusional Disorder (PDD) subjects (N = 236) with onset of illness before the age of 30 years. Gender differences in marital and employment status were significant (p-0.001). Delusion of infidelity and erotomania were more common in females, while males had more body dysmorphic and persecutory delusions (X2-20.45, p-0.009). Males had more substance dependence (X2-21.31, p < 0.001), as well as a family history of substance abuse and PDD (X2-18.5, p < 0.01). To conclude, gender differences in PDD comprised some psychopathology, co-morbidity, and family history among those with young onset PDD.

Captagone & Morbid Jealousy.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between Captagon usage and the development of delusions of infidelity. The study sample; 101 male patients, was recruited from patients admitted to Eradah Complex for Mental Health and addiction, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the diagnosis of amphetamine (Captagon) induced psychosis during the period from September 2021 to March 2022. All patients underwent an extensive psychiatric interview; including interview with patients' families; a demographic sheet, a drug use questionnaire, the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID 1), routine medical investigation, and urine screening for drugs. Patients' ages ranged from 19 to 46 years old with Mean ± SD 30.87 ± 6.58. 57.4 % were single, 77.2% have finished their high school, and 22.8% had no work. Captagon using age ranged from 14-40 years old, and regular daily dose ranged from 1-15 tablet, while maximum daily dose ranged from 2-25 tablets. Twenty-six patients (25.7%) of the study group have developed infidelity delusions. A higher divorce rate was present among patients who developed infidelity delusions (53.8%) in comparison to patients who developed other types of delusions (6.7%). Infidelity delusions are common among patients diagnosed with Captagon induce psychosis, and they harmfully influence their social lives.