Unexpected subthreshold autism spectrum in a 25-year-old male stalker hospitalized for delusional disorder: a case report.

This paper highlights the clinical challenges faced when assessing patients with stalking behaviors with psychotic disorders, suggesting the need for an accurate assessment of adult autism spectrum symptoms. A 25-year-old man with a diagnosis of delusional disorder, erotomanic type, was hospitalized for acute psychotic symptoms occurred in the framework of a repeated stalking behavior towards his ex girlfriend. When assessed for adult autism spectrum symptoms upon an accurate clinical evaluation, he reported elevated scores in the mentalizing deficit and social anxiety domains by means of the 14 item Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale (RAADS-14). Authors discuss a possible role of adult (subthreshold) autism spectrum symptoms, generally disregarded in adult psychiatry, on the type of psychotic features and stalking behavior developed that may help for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  Comprehensive Psychiatry

• Publication date

  2015-08-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.comppsych.2015.04.003PMID 26031384
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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