Psychiatric Disorders and Syndromes

Question 1

What is depersonalisation-derealisation disorder?

Answer 1

Involves depersonalisation (feeling of separated or outside their body) and derealisation (feeling the world is not real)

Question 2

What is dissociative amnesia?

Answer 2

Forgetting autobiographical information after a traumatic experience causing gaps in memory

Question 3

What is dissociative identity disorder?

Answer 3

AKA Multiple personality disorder

• Clear lack of identity
• Multiple separate identities with unique names, personalities and memories

Associated with severe stress and trauma in childhood

Question 4

What is catatonia?

Answer 4

Abnormal movement, communication and behaviour

Patients are awake but not behaving normally

Question 5

What causes catatonia?

Answer 5

Severe depression
Bipolar disorder

Can occur with psychosis e.g. in schizophrenia

Question 6

What is reactive attachment disorder?

Answer 6

Emotional withdrawal and inhibition, sadness, fearfulness, irritability and impaired cognition

Struggle to form close relationships or attachments, do not respond well to affection or discipline

Question 7

What causes reactive attachment disorder?

Answer 7

Severe neglect and trauma in early childhood

Question 8

What is attachment theory?

Answer 8

Importance of creating healthy, consistent and secure attachments to at least one nurturing individual during early childhood particularly first 2 years of life

Question 9

What is Munchausen syndrome?

Answer 9

Conscious effort to fake illness and seek medical attention for personal gain

Symptoms are invented, exaggerated or induced

Provides attention, affection, relationships and care from others

Question 10

What is hoarding disorder?

Answer 10

Excessive accumulation of possessions and emotional difficulty in getting rid of items

Person does not see behaviour as a problem or appreciate impact it has on themselves on others

Question 11

What is hoarding disorder associated with?

Answer 11

Self-neglect
Depression
Anxiety

Question 12

What is Alien hand syndrome?

Answer 12

After damage to corpus callosum

Patient loses control of one of their hands and acts independently

Question 13

What is Cotard delusion?

Answer 13

False belief they are dead or dying

Caused by depression, schizophrenia or neurological conditions

Question 14

What is Capgras syndrome?

Answer 14

False belief that an identical duplicate has replaced someone close to them

Suspicious and aggressive to the imposter

Question 15

What is De Clérambault’s syndrome?

Answer 15

AKA erotomania

False belief that a famous person in love with the patient

Patient often young, single woman

Question 16

What is Alice in Wonderland syndrome or Todd syndrome?

Answer 16

Incorrectly perceiving sizes of body parts or objects

Associated with changes to perception of time and migraine symptoms

Question 17

What is Koro syndrome?

Answer 17

Delusion that sex organs (particularly penis) are shrinking or retracting and will disappear

Patients can believe this will lead to death

Causes anxiety and panic attacks, primarily in Asia

Question 18

What is body integrity dysphoria?

Answer 18

Strong feeling that part of the body doesn’t belong to them e.g. a leg

Typically want to remove that part of their body

Desire to be disabled or paralysed and to use a wheelchair

Question 19

What is foreign accent syndrome?

Answer 19

Sudden change in a person’s voice

Others perceive them as having changed accent

They are aware that their voice has changed

Most common cause is a stroke in the left hemisphere

Question 20

What is functional neurological disorder/conversion disorder?

Answer 20

Sensory and motor symptoms that are not explained by any neurological disease

Can have weakness, gait disturbance, seizures, sensory loss and vision disturbance

May be a history of significant trauma or stress
Stress converted to physical symptoms

Question 21

What is Ekbom syndrome?

Answer 21

Patient believes they have been infested with parasites

Patient complains of crawling sensations on the skin, can be due to organic cause e.g. B12 deficiency

Question 22

What is a Fregoli delusion?

Answer 22

Patient thinks that everyone they meet is the same person with different disguises

Associated with injury to right frontal area, left temporoparietal and fusiform gyrus