Skin Deep: An Overlap of Delusions

Delusional infestation (DI) describes a fixed, false belief where a person believes that they are infested with living or inanimate pathogens despite the absence of medical evidence for such infestation. Descriptions of alleged pathogens have evolved over time, incorporating inanimate objects such a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2024-06, Vol.16 (6), p.e62681
Main Authors: Abdulraouf Almarzooqi, Khulood, Dimitrov, Dimitre, Alharmoodi, Khaled
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antipsychotics
Delusional disorder
Delusions
Dermatology
Dopamine
Drug therapy
Family medical history
Hallucinations
Mental disorders
Parasitic diseases
Pathogens
Patients
Psychosis
Psychotropic drugs
Schizophrenia
Skin
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Summary:Delusional infestation (DI) describes a fixed, false belief where a person believes that they are infested with living or inanimate pathogens despite the absence of medical evidence for such infestation. Descriptions of alleged pathogens have evolved over time, incorporating inanimate objects such as fibrous strands. With the emergence of Morgellons disease and its controversy, we report a case of a 40-year-old female presenting with a strong belief of scabies infestation along with fibers emerging from her skin. Further, although insects are still the most alleged source of infestation, the overlap of Morgellons disease and the delusion of infestation supports it as a DI variant and questions the notion of its existence as a separate diagnostic entity.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.62681