The hallucinations are common and have an important role in diagnosing schizophrenia. Objectives: To describe and to follow-up the evolution of the hallucinations in schizopprenia. 40 schizophrenic in patients in accordance with ICD.10 criteria, who have hallucinations, are treated by anti - psychotics in National Institute of Mental Health from September 1999 to November 2000. Methods: using the method of cross - sectional study. Results: The hallucinations of the patients were: 92.5% had auditory hallucination, 12.5% had visual hallucination and 2.5% had olfactory hallucination. Most of auditory hallucinations are comment, located in head. 91.6% hallucinations are disappeared when the patients were treated by antipsychotics. Conclusions: Most of hallucinations are auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations and olfactory hallucination. Hallucinations are likely sensitive to antipsychotics
Schizophrenia ; Hallucinations ; Diagnosis

We have experienced a rare case of progressive supranuclear palsy with hallucination and delusion. The common manifestations of progressive supranuclear palsy are gait disturbance, mental change and sign of vertical ophthamoplegia but no efficacious therapy has been known. Neuropsychiatric symptom clusters include cognitive impairment, affective and behavioral changes, sleep disturbance, and psychotic symptoms. Though schizophrenia-like psychosis has been reported but this is certainly rare. Addressing a case of progressive supranuclear palsy, in whom parkisonian symptoms appeared with concurrent psychotic symptoms, we emphasize accurate diagnosis.
Delusions ; Diagnosis ; Gait ; Hallucinations ; Psychotic Disorders ; Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive*

Wernekink commissure syndrome is a rare midbrain syndrome with bilateral cerebellar dysfunction,eye movement disorder,and palatal myoclonus.Few cases of this syndrome have been reported in China,let alone those combined with hallucinations and involuntary groping.This paper reports the diagnosis and treatment of a case of Wernekink commissure syndrome with hallucinations and involuntary groping,aiming to enrich the knowledge about this disease for clinicians.
Humans ; Mesencephalon ; Ocular Motility Disorders/diagnosis* ; Spinal Cord ; Syndrome ; Hallucinations

The dementia with Lewy bodies which was common next to the Alzheimer's dementia had been oftenly misdiagnozed as vascular dementia. The pathologic diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies was increasing with the development of immunocytochemical techniques, and it also drew much interest recently. The clinical criteria included core symptoms such as fluctuation of cognitive function, well-formed visual hallucination and extrapyramidal symptoms. For the pathologic criteria, presence of brainstem or cortical Lewy bodies were essential, besides of other pathology. However, it was difficult to obtain satisfactory consensus between investigators about the clinical and pathologic criteria of the dementia with Lewy bodies. There were several reports which suggested good response to the cholinesterase inhibitors.
Brain Stem ; Cholinesterase Inhibitors ; Consensus ; Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Diagnosis ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Lewy Bodies* ; Pathology ; Research Personnel

OBJECTIVES: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD) represent significant clinical problems, resulting in functional decline, caregiver distress, institutionalization and increased mortality. A recent study showed gender differences have important role in the development of BPSD, but relationship between BPSD and gender has never been studied in Korea. This study was designed to examine whether patients with Alzheimer's disease show gender differences in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD). METHODS: Ninety-eight subjects with Alzheimer's disease were included in this study. We carried out history taking and cognitive assessment for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease based on DSM-IV. Cognitive impairment and BPSD were measured using the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR) and the Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory(K-NPI). Independent samples t-test was used to examine the differences across gender in BPSD. Correlation analysis between MMSE, CDR, GDS and NPI was performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: There were no significant gender differences between the gender in BPSD. We found statistically significant negative correlations between MMSE with NPI total score, and with scores of several sub-domains such as hallucination. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that gender differences in BPSD are not significant. Further research is necessary to identify whether BPSD affect gender differences or individual differences.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Caregivers ; Dementia* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Individuality ; Institutionalization ; Korea ; Mortality

OBJECTIVES: This study aims at examining familial associations of symptoms and clinical characteristics in affected sibling or relative pairs of schizophrenia as an effort to identify genetically homogeneous phenotypes. METHODS: Forty-seven relative pairs with DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia from thirty-five Korean families multiply affected with schizophrenia were ascertained. Direct interviews were done using the Korean version of Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS). The Krawieka Rating Scale and the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome were also applied for further evaluation of psychopathologies. Intra-familial concordances and correlations of clinical characteristics and symptoms were tested using chi-squared-test and Spearman's correlation. RESULTS: Significantly high concordance rate within relative pairs was found for the diagnosis of paranoid vs. non-paranoid subtype (chi-squared=7.623, p=0.006, df=1). Deficit vs. non-deficit syndrome also showed significant concordance (chi-squared=3.850, p= 0.0497, df=1). Among single symptom items in DIGS, only 'auditory hallucination' showed significant concordance rate (chi-squared= 5.503, p=0.019, df=1). Factor analysis for symptoms items in the Krawiecka Rating Scale indicated three symptom dimensions; negative, psychotic and affective. Psychotic (rho=0.442, p=0.003) and affective dimension scores (rho=0.427, p=0.004) showed significant intra-familial correlations. Age at onset of recognized psychotic symptoms showed significant correlation only within the male sibling pairs. CONCLUSION: Familial factors, possibly genetic factor contribute to the phenotypic characteristics of paranoid vs. non-paranoid subtype, deficit vs. non-deficit syndrome, auditory hallucination, and affective syndrome. It supports their use in the delineation of homogeneous subgroups for future genetic studies
Appointments and Schedules ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Male ; Phenotype ; Schizophrenia* ; Siblings

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations and disrupted nocturnal sleep. We report a patient with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who was subsequently diagnosed as narcolepsy. A case of a 22-year-old woman with concomitant narcolepsy and psychotic symptoms was discussed from a perspective of the diagnosis and therapeutic challenges, particularly on pharmacological treatment dealing with issues raised by their coexistence.
Cataplexy ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Narcolepsy ; Schizophrenia ; Sleep Paralysis ; Young Adult

Schizophrenia-like psychiatric symptoms in patients with MELAS are rarely reported. A 34-year-old male was admitted because of visual hallucinations, persecutory delusions and generalized seizure. He also presented with repeated headache, vomiting, and left homonymous hemianopsia. We report a 34-year-male with MELAS presenting psychiatric symptoms before the establishment of the diagnosis by gene analysis.
Adult ; Delusions ; Diagnosis ; Hallucinations ; Headache ; Hemianopsia ; Humans ; Male ; MELAS Syndrome* ; Schizophrenia ; Seizures ; Vomiting

OBJECTIVES: Research suggests that content of delusion and hallucination in schizophrenia is influenced by culture and social environment. However, few studies investigated chronological change of delusions and hallucinations within a society. To investigate changes in delusions and hallucinations of schizophrenia according to time, we compared contents of symptoms between inpatients with schizophrenia at two different time frames. METHODS: All admissions to a psychiatric unit of Hanyang University Guri Hospital with discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia at two different five-year time frames (1996-2000 and 2006-2010) were reviewed. Using a checklist, adapted from the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms, we investigated delusions and hallucinations of 247 patients (104 in the 1990s and 143 in the 2000s). RESULTS: Delusions and hallucinations of patients did not differ at two time frames. In women, however, auditory and somato-tactile hallucinations were significantly more frequent in the 1990s (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the literature emphasizing that content and frequency of hallucination may differ according to cultural environment. We speculate that attitude toward sex and defensiveness toward disclosure of symptoms may have contributed to interval difference.
Checklist ; Delusions* ; Diagnosis ; Disclosure ; Female ; Hallucinations* ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Schizophrenia* ; Social Environment

OBJECTIVES: To explore the possibilities of finding a heritable phenotype(s) in patients with psychosis, we examined the similarities of clinical variables between psychotic sibling patients who share the half of genetic information. METHODS: We recruited a group of sibling patients, whose diagnoses were schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder and confirmed the diagnosis using SCID-RV(Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Research Version). Using 30 sets of sibling patients, we examined concordances or similarities of diagnosis, diagnostic subtypes, clinical symptoms, and longitudinal outcomes. RESULTS: There were significant concordances in terms of age of onset, auditory hallucination persisted for more than 7 years, general level of functioning. No significant similarities or concordances were found in diagnosis, diagnostic subtypes, delusion, negative symptom, and thought disorder between sibling patients. CONCLUSION: Above mentioned similarities have the possibilities of genetically determined phenotypes that could be used in the future genetic studies. Concordance of hallucination persisted for more than 7 years, not the presence or absence of auditory hallucination between sibling patients suggests that it is more important to examine longitudinal patterns of symptoms than to merely examine the presence of symptoms at specific cross-sectional time points in terms of genetic studies.
Age of Onset ; Bipolar Disorder ; Delusions ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Phenotype ; Psychotic Disorders* ; Schizophrenia ; Siblings*