The delusion of jealousy as a psychopathology of thought content is a common symptom frequently met in nearly all of the psychotic disorders, psychogenic as well as organic, including alcoholoic and senile patients. And it also has a special -relevance to legal problem such as homicide due to violent behaviors in severe delusional state. The subject have been widely studied, however, mostly on psychoanalytic basis, and interestingly enough, few systematic clinical works could be found, especially in Korean patient.
In this study, the author attempted to delineate and evaluate some clinical aspects of the delusion of jealousy; basic demographic data, family .structure, precipitating factors of symptom formation and characteristics of the delusion.
For the above purpose, the author analyzed clinical data of 63 cases of delusional jealousy who had been hospitalized from January, 1974 to December, 1976 in psychiatric wards of general hospitals and private psychiatric clinics in Taegu-area.
The results could be summarized as follows:
l. Out of 63 cases, the male patients numbered 41 and the female, 22, the ratio being 2 : I. The mean age of the male was 41 and that of -the female, 33 years.
2. As to the diagnostic distribution,. the incidence of schizophrenia was the highe8t(54%), the next being the paranoid state (27%), followed by alcoholic disorders (14%). and others(5%). In male patients, the incidence of alcohoic disorders and paranoid state was predominantly high, while that of schizophrehia was higher in female,.
3. Among all cases, 24% of the subjects. lost- one of their parents before age of nine. As to the family structure, nuclear patterns were much frequent, but the marital mode was mostly traditional "match-making" ones.
4. The author could analyze precipitating factor of delusion formation in about two third of all cases: 1) promiscuous sexual life and sexual inferiority of the patient himself, 2) the patient´s perception in his marital partner, of clue of intimate relation with others, and 3) frustration of social life. The objects involved in the delusion of jealousy could be classified as 1) vague "somebody", 2) neighbors and 3) concrete persons. The concrete objectsusually represented sexually potent, socially powerful or incestuous symbolic persons.
5. Lastly, other symptoms associated with the delusion of jealousy were. physical violence (54%), heavy alcoholic intake (37%), and in 43% delusion of persecution other than jealousy were found.
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