Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases Masquerading as Psychiatric Disorders: A Case Series

Neurological involvement has been found in many autoimmune diseases, with psychiatric abnormalities such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and cognitive dysfunction.

Here, we describe a series of 5 consecutive cases of autoimmune diseases presenting with psychiatric symptoms as the predominant manifestation.

Our case series suggests that psychiatric symptoms, mainly depression, can be one of the presenting symptoms of several autoimmune diseases that often cause a significant delay in diagnosis.

Any patient, particularly females, with a newly detected psychiatric disorder that responds poorly to medical management should be properly examined for underlying primary systemic autoimmune diseases.