Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:625-628
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Diagnosis and clinical course of erotomanic and other delusional patients
M Rudden, J Sweeney and A Frances
Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University School of Medicine-Payne Whitney Clinic, New York, NY.
Twenty-eight patients with erotomanic delusions were compared with 80
patients with other delusions to clarify questions about diagnosis and
course of illness in erotomania. The erotomanic patients were a
heterogeneous group with respect to both diagnosis and course. They had
significantly more manic symptoms than the comparison group and more
affective diagnoses than would be expected from the literature; 25% (N = 7)
had schizoaffective disorder and 7% (N = 2) had bipolar disorder. A
subgroup of monodelusional erotomanic patients was identified who met the
DSM-III-R criteria for delusional disorder, thus supporting the decision to
include erotomanic delusions in this diagnostic category in the revision of
DSM-III.
