Introduction. Shared psychotic disorder, or folie ? deux, is a rare entity
characterized by the transmission of psychotic symptoms from one patient
(the inducer) to another (the induced). Delusional disorder is a type of
mental illness (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision,
Clinical Modification, diagnosis code F24; it was moved from the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, to Other
Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders). Only one
person (the inducer) suffers from a real psychotic disorder, and the other/s
is/ are induced, and most often recover/s after separation from the inducer.
Case Report. Based on the medical records and available literature on this
condition, we present a case of a mother and son with this disorder, where
the son with a paranoid psychosis transfers it to his mother. They lived
alone in the same household for years, socially isolated from the others.
Conclusion. In general, the research has shown that there are no uniform
opinions among authors regarding the incidence of the disorder in males and
females, at younger and older age, as well as in relationships between
partners, siblings, and between parents and children. Most agree that
longterm social isolation is among the most common risk factors, as well as
dominance and strong power of suggestion in one partner, and passivity and
tendency to suggestion in the other.