Brain Tumor-Associated Psychosis and Spirituality-A Case Report.
Lars Levi Dutschke, Sarah Steinau, Roland Wiest, Sebastian Walther
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00237 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | A patient with a dysembryogenic neuroepithelial tumor in the posterior thalamus and internal capsule |
| Keywords | Auditory hallucinations Brain tumor Dysembryogenic neuroepithelial tumor Psychopathology Psychosis Spirituality |
| Key findings | The authors propose that in this patient, long-standing periodic religiousness and religiously determined self-mutilation, auditory hallucinations, and rituals may have been symptoms of tumor progression rather than primary psychiatric illness, and that the lesion's location in the posterior thalamus and internal capsule shaped the phenomenology of her psychotic symptoms through its effects on involved brain networks. |
Abstract
This case report describes a patient with a dysembryogenic neuroepithelial tumor localized in the posterior thalamus and internal capsule, which presented with psychosis including religiously determined severe self-mutilation, auditory hallucinations, and rituals. The patient's history includes periodic religiousness over decades of her life suggesting that spirituality in this case might be a symptom of tumor progression. Our case reports on the topology-related effect of lesions on different brain networks involved in the phenomenology of the patient's psychotic symptoms.