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Prader-Willi syndrome and psychotic symptoms: report of a further case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

David J Clarke
Affiliation:
Centre for Research and Information in Mental Disability, Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2QZ, England
Tessa Webb
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Birmingham, Maternity Hospital, Birmingham, B15 2TG, England
Joyce P Bachmann-Clarke
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

A 21 year-old woman with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and a delusional disorder (paranoid psychosis) is described. Other reports of psychoses associated with PWS are reviewed. Reasons for the co-existence of the two disorders are considered, with discussion of the possible role of auditory information processing deficits in the genesis of psychotic symptoms. Such symptoms must be differentiated from maladaptive behaviours not arising from psychosis, the latter being relatively common in PWS. Treatment with a small dose of flupenthixol greatly reduced the impact of the patient's psychotic symptoms, with a corresponding improvement in her quality of life.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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