Frey-Baillarger Syndrome

Frey-Baillarger syndrome

Frey-Baillarger syndrome is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of delusions in which the patient believes that his thoughts are becoming accessible to others.

This disease was first described by French psychiatrists Lucien Frey and Jean-Pierre Falret in 1922, which is why it bears their names.

The main manifestation of Frey-Baillarger syndrome is the patient’s belief that his thoughts “come out” and become audible or visible to other people. The patient believes that others can read his thoughts, comment on them, and sometimes even influence them. This causes anxiety and discomfort.

The causes of Frey-Baillarger syndrome are not completely clear. It is assumed that disturbances in the functioning of the frontal lobes of the brain play a role here. Risk factors include schizophrenia, depression, and traumatic brain injury.

For treatment, antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs are prescribed, as well as psychotherapy. The prognosis depends on the severity of the disease and the timeliness of treatment. With adequate therapy, a significant improvement in the patient's condition is possible.

Frey–Baillarger syndrome is one of the rare hereditary diseases of the nervous system. The exact number of patients with the syndrome is about 150-200 people per 7 million population, which is a small part of the total number of all children with myoclonic seizures. Men get sick slightly more often than women, the ratio is 1.5:1. The main morphological feature of the syndrome is the presence of cerebellar dystrophic changes. They are visible during MRI of the brain. Microscopic examination of a brain biopsy often reveals thinning of the cortex, expansion of the ventricles and neurons, and degenerative changes. The main symptoms characteristic of FBS are some motor clumsiness, hyperacusis, discomfort in the eye area, a tendency to dizziness, poor sleep, and a tendency to epileptic seizures in infancy. There are also other possible symptoms, for example, different arm lengths in children, slower development of speech, nervous and muscular systems. Children with FBS are characterized by