Dhat syndrome: is it a distinct clinical entity? A study of illness behaviour characteristics

Dhat syndrome is a culture-bound neurotic disorder seen in the Indian subcontinent. The disorder has recently been included in ICD-10. In the present study, illness behaviour of 50 dhat syndrome patients was studied using a Hindi version of Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) and was compared with 50 controls. Sixty-six percent of dhat syndrome patients received unspecified diagnoses on DSM-III-R. Patients with dhat syndrome showed a distinct illness behaviour profile consisting of higher scores on IBQ factors of general hypochondriasis and affective discomfort and lower scores on denial compared with controls, suggesting that the disorder may be a distinct entity.