Psychopathologic and zoological aspects of acarophobia

Acarophobia represents a nosologically inconsistent psychiatric clinical picture which is exceptional in that it is noticed among the clientele of those in charge of pest control, hygienists, health department medical officers and dermatologists rather than in psychiatric practice or mental hospitals. Apart from acarophobia in the course of schizophrenic, affective and organic psychoses as well as cases in which the phobia was induced by another individual, roughly half of the cases were 'pure' forms, i.e. monosymptomatic psychoses mainly occurring at advanced age and in females. Putative parasitisation relates not only to the subject's skin, but also to the premises where the person affected is living. Social isolation appears to rank high among essential causes. Four cases from a pest controller's practice are reported which could not be properly treated because of the subjects' lack of insight into their condition. In this light, it was the aim of the present study to focus the attention of pest controllers and hygienists on interdisciplinary co-operation with psychiatrists as well as with public health departments.