Psychology in Pathology: Porphyria

Page: 347-348
Arpita Kackar and Alisha Juneja (Department of Psychology, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan)

Porphyria mimics a variety of disorders and poses a diagnostic predicament. Patients develop psychiatric symptoms such as psychosis similar to schizophrenia. This research paper aims to study this diagnostic difficulty which leads to under diagnosis of patients who present strictly with psychiatric symptoms. This assumption is supported by a high prevalence of acute porphyrias in psychiatric hospitals. Therefore, a high index of suspicion for porphyriacs in psychiatric hospitals should be encouraged.