Clinical and Etiopathogenic Specificities of the French Concept of Psychose Hallucinatoire Chronique Compared to Schizophrenia

• Published in: Schizophrenia bulletin 2004, Vol.30 (1), p.173-184
• Main Authors: Dubertret, Caroline, Adès, Jean, Gorwood, Philip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Child; Chronic Disease; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Etiology; Family Health; Female; France; Hallucinations; Hallucinations - psychology; Human; Humans; Inpatients; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nosology. Terminology. Diagnostic criteria; Onset (Disorders); Positive and Negative Symptoms; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosis; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - etiology; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Sex Factors; Techniques and methods; Terminology as Topic
• ISSN: 0586-7614; 1745-1701
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a007061

The French concept of psychose hallucinatoire chronique (PHC) is characterized by late-onset psychosis, occurring predominantly in females. Symptoms are rich and frequent hallucinations but almost no dissociative features or negative symptoms. This diagnosis is classified among schizophrenia disorders (paranoid type) according to DSM-IV. PHC may also describe a group of patients with original clinical presentation and etiopathogenic factors. We compared 38 female PHC patients with two groups of female schizophrenia patients, matched for age at interview for the first group (n = 35), and duration of the disorder for the second group (n = 36). PHC subjects were relatively older patients with homogeneous clinical features characterized by predominantly positive symptoms without deterioration and fewer relatives with schizophrenia than schizophrenia patients. This first controlled study underscores clinical, phenomenological, and possibly etiopathogenic factors that characterized the PHC patients, even when the impact of late onset and late age at interview were taken into account. This study provides evidence that PHC may be a possible diagnosis in clinical practice, although it is difficult to reach a conclusion on its relationship with schizophrenia.