Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, born 1967, are a pair of Swedish twins who came to national attention in the United Kingdom in 2008 after an apparent episode of folie à deux, which resulted in unique footage of insanity on the M6 motorway, and the killing of Glenn Hollinshead. No drugs or alcohol were involved in any of the incidents. Their actions have never been explained, other than by a rare induced delusional disorder which caused the pair to be temporarily insane.
The twins met up in Ireland, before travelling to England. After their odd behaviour caused them to be left at an M6 service station, they ran on to the motorway numerous times, and were struck by oncoming vehicles, causing Ursula to be incapacitated. Sabina refused medical aid and attacked a police officer, at which point she was arrested. After being released by police in Stoke-on-Trent, Sabina then was taken in by a local resident, whom she later killed in an unprovoked attack. After jumping off a bridge into a busy road she was arrested, and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility. She was sentenced to five years imprisonment. The trial had virtually no legal precedence.
Folie à deux from the French for "a madness shared by two") (or shared psychosis) is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another. The same syndrome shared by more than two people may be called folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie en famille or even folie à plusieurs ("madness of many"). Recent psychiatric classifications refer to the syndrome as dependency psychotic disorder (DSM-IV) (297.3) and induced delusional disorder (F.24) in the ICD-10, although the research literature largely uses the original name. The disorder was first conceptualized in 19th century French psychiatry
I don't deal with crazies. Thank Dog. That's wild. They don't pay cops enough for dealing with shite like this.
Re: Follie a deux
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:15 pm
by Sean
So tell me Strop what was the search string that led you to this story?
'Swedish twins' perchance?
Re: Follie a deux
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:52 pm
by dales
i wonder if this disorder will appear in the DSM-V?
Re: Follie a deux
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:13 am
by Gob
@meric@nwom@n wrote:I don't deal with crazies. Thank Dog. That's wild. They don't pay cops enough for dealing with shite like this.
One of mine was admitted to the emergency dept yesterday, with half a gram of coke lodged where the sun don't shine.
Gong to need an opperation to get it out.
Oh how I did laugh...
dales wrote:i wonder if this disorder will appear in the DSM-V?
It does;
DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for 297.3 Shared Psychotic Disorder (Folie à Deux)
A delusion develops in an individual in the context of a close relationship with another person or persons, who have an already established delusion.
The delusion is similar in content to that of the person who already has an established delusion.
The disturbance is not better accounted for by another psychotic disorder (eg, schizophrenia) or a mood disorder with psychotic features and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (eg, drug abuse, medication) or a general medical condition.
Re: Follie a deux
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:48 am
by loCAtek
Saw a handicapped gal flip out at the light rail station last year. Why? Because a man offered to push her up the street ramp. She was kinda struggling with it, and maybe the guy should have asked her if she wanted help first, but he just said, 'Here you go'; grabbed her wheelchair handles and started pushing her. She started with 'No! No!" and told him not to touch her (he wasn't) ...then the screaming started. At least, he got her to the top of the ramp, but she was screeching her fool head off by then.
The conductor waited for her to board, where she continued muttering, don't touch me! don't tough me!
