Late-onset schizophrenic syndromes in socially isolated situations: a comparison of Janzarik's 'Kontaktmangelparanoid' and late paraphrenia

Abstract

The two concepts of Kontaktmangelparanoid (contact-deficit hallucinosis) and late paraphrenia at the level of symptomatology and psychopathology from the perspective of contributing to an understanding of these special problems of psychogeriatrics are discussed in the present study. This sheds light on the important role of isolation, especially in elderly females, as a pathogenic factor in late-onset paranoic state. Clinical physicians might naively associate late-onset paranoid (hallucinatory) syndrome with organic factors such as age and cerebrovascular processes, and particularly with dementia, but they do not associate it with the patient's living environment. Admittedly, treatment prospects for chronic, entrenched syndromes are limited, but there are these types of exceptions. We have evaluated the two concepts, from the perspective of their modern-day significance, with a view to the possibility that a more sophisticated exploration of the linkage among the various symptoms (symptomatology) and of the meaning inherent in the linkage of symptoms (psychopathology) in both concepts will pave the way to a therapeutic methodology that sheds light on the situation of elderly females living in imposed isolation.