A delusional parasitosis case responding to low dose risperidone treatment

Abstract

Delusional parasitosis is a somatic type delusional disorder encountered in presenile women who suffer from a fixed false belief that they are infested with parasites. Despite a detailed examination and assurance, patients are not convinced that they have no parasitic infection. Repetitive applications and tests increases the treatment cost very much. In this article, we present a 76 years-old woman who had persistent thoughts about being infested by parasites for two years, and made deep scars widely distributed on her body, and was refusing any psychiatric diagnosis. Our aim was to draw attention to the delusional disorder which was a rare disease with poor prognosis, and to report results of low dose risperidone treatment with favorable outcomes of given psycho-education to the patient and her family.