Erotomanic symptoms in 42 Chinese schizophrenic patients

Reports on erotomania frequently include schizophrenic patients with secondary erotomania, but there are no reports on the prevalence and characteristics of erotomanic symptoms in schizophrenic patients.

A structured item on erotomanic delusions was added to the Chinese version of the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms and administered to 448 randomly selected schizophrenic patients on admission to four psychiatric hospitals in China.

Erotomanic symptoms were identified in 9.4% of the patients (42/448; 95% CI 6.9-12.4%) 4.5% (20/448; CI 2.8-6.8%) had erotomanic ideation and 4.9% (22/448; CI 3.1-7.4%) had fixed erotomanic delusions. Compared with patients without erotomanic symptoms, erotomanic patients were more likely to be male and unmarried, and they had a higher level of education, more severe grandiose delusions, more prominent hostility, and less severe negative symptoms.

The relatively common occurence of erotomanic symptoms in Chinese schizophrenic patients may be related to the indirect manner of expressing sexual interest in Chinese culture and, thus, be an example of the cultural moulding of psychiatric symptoms.