Hypersensitivity to electricity: What place in clinical psychiatry?

Abstract

Hypersensitivity to electricity (EHS) is a self-defined syndrome where individuals experience symptoms while using or being in the proximity of equipment or devices that use electric, magnetic or electromagnetic fields. We present the case of a 45-year-old patient who received an EHS diagnosis several years ago. This patient was first sent to us for hospitalization in the psychiatric ward with mystic delusions and secondary behavior disorders. He had no remarkable psychiatric history and the thorough somatic examinations performed showed no anomaly. The EHS had first appeared 10 years ago with associated symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, headache, cognitive disturbances, as well as physically painful sensations. These symptoms had become gradually invalidating, preventing the patient from pursuing his professional activity. Nevertheless, he maintained his social and familial obligations, and, together with his wife, was still able to care for his 2 children. The patient presented, in the emergency ward, with delusions of mystical and persecuting nature of multiple mechanisms with total adherence. The initial symptomatology gradually improved under antipsychotic treatment without any real improvement of the EHS complaint. This case brought several questions. What is the place of the EHS diagnosis within the framework of a delirious episode? Is there a link between these two diagnoses and more generally is there a psychiatric profile more frequently found in EHS patients?

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.