Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis (somatic delusional disorder): a report of two cases.

Abstract

Historically, the term Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis (MHP) was first used by Munro in 1978. MHP isclassified as a somatic type of delusional disorder in DSM-IV and is defined as an erroneous conviction of bodily disease, abnormality or alteration. It includes delusional beliefs about bodily sensations or functions; such as feeling malodorous, being infected by parasites, having dysmorphic features, or that a certain organ is no longer functioning. MHP has been divided into 4 main categories: Delusions of infestation (including parasitosis); delusions of dysmorphophobia, such as of misshapenness, personal ugliness, or exaggerated size of body parts (this seems closest to that of body dysmorphic disorder); delusions of foul body odours or halitosis or delusional bromosis (also known as olfactory reference syndrome); and a miscellaneous group.