When Dhat Syndrome is Delusional: A Case Series

Abstract

The Dhat syndrome is a culture-bound syndrome associated with anxiety and somatic and mood symptoms related to semen loss. It sometimes occurs in women, in whom it comes with vaginal discharge. Only a single case has been reported whereby Dhat delusion was associated with schizophrenia. In this case report, we dwell on two individuals suffering from a somatic-type delusional disorder with Dhat-like symptoms who had initially presented classical symptoms of the Dhat syndrome. Further studies are needed to explore the intersections of Dhat syndrome and psychoses, as well as the risk factors involved in mutual predisposition.

Keywords

culture-bound syndrome / Dhat syndrome / delusional disorder / psychosis / obsessive-compulsive disorder

References

[1] Prakash O, Kar SK. Dhat Syndrome: A review and update. Journal of Psychosexual Health. 2019;1(3–4):241–5. doi: 10.1177/2631831819894769

[2] Ghosh S, Chowdhury AN. A case of two culture-bound syndromes (Koro and Dhat syndrome) coexisting with obsessive–compulsive disorder. Indian J Psychiatry. 2020;62(2):221–2. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_298_19

[3] Malik MFA, Najeeb B, Nizami AT. The association of symptoms of dhat syndrome with comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder: A case report. Indian J Psychiatry. 2023;65(7):793–4. doi: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_437_22

[4] Scotti-Muzzi E, Saide OL. Transition from obsession to delusion in Schizo-obsessive disorder. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2018;15(7–8):23–6.

[5] Patra S, Sidana A, Gupta N. Delusion of dhat: The quandary of the form-content dichotomy! Ind Psychiatry J. 2014;23(2):171–2. doi: 10.4103/0972-6748.151708

[6] Chakraborty A, Bhattacharjee D, Bandyopadhyay U. Secondary Koro presenting as delusional disorder: A case series. Journal of Psychosexual Health. 2022;4(4):260–2. doi: 10.1177/26318318221110188

[7] Kiran C, Chaudhury S. Understanding delusions. Ind Psychiatry J. 2009;18(1):3–18. doi: 10.4103/0972-6748.57851

[8] González-Rodríguez A, Seeman MV. Differences between delusional disorder and schizophrenia: A mini narrative review. World J Psychiatry. 2022;12(5):683–692. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i5.683

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Debanjan B., Debanjan B.