Folie à deux: a challenge for mental health nursing

Abstract

Folie à deux is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by the transmission of delusional symptoms from one patient to another. It usually has to occur between a minimum of two people, but it can come to involve more, these having a very close relationship and a tendency to be socially isolated. This disorder tends to be underdiagnosed, which hinders its detection and early treatment, and sometimes becomes a serious problem. We present the clinical case of a 21-year-old patient who maintains a shared delusion with her mother. The case is described and its characteristics, the nursing interventions carried out and the evolution presented are explained.