Delusional Disorder: Clinical and Demographic Features and Outcome

Back ground: Delusional disorder is a rather an uncommon psychotic disorder. This study is designed to describe condition of such patients in our community and investigate possible role of cultural effect on features of delusional disorder in our community. This cross sectional study investigated admitted patients during 1999-2002. Demographic statistics (e.g. age, gender, occupation, educational and marital status) and clinical features in patients and response to therapy are described. Sixty eight patients were enrolled. From the total of 68 patients, 54 (79.5%) were male and 14(20.5%) were female (M/F ratio: 3.8). These patients were 0.4% of all admitted patients. Persecutory delusion was the most common while grandiose and erotomanic subtypes were rare. Six patients (8.8%) had insight to the disorder in some extents. Auditory hallucinations, depressed mood and homicidal thoughts were common established symptoms. Loose of job and legal problems were common complications. Following treatment with new anti psychotic drugs; 4.5% had complete response and 84% had relative response. Clinical symptoms of the disorder in our community are similar to other populations, but we noticed low fraction of female patients to be admitted. Delusional disorders as a condition which may lead to serious problems will be controlled promptly with assistance of an aware family.