Talk:Delusional parasitosis

References to self-diagnosis in the context of a persistent psychosis are confusing and should be revised out

The article contains references to self-diagnosis. For example, "Since the early 2000s, a strong internet presence has led to increasing self-diagnosis." I believe that for example that sentence is trying to say something to the effect that more people begin to experience this delusion after exposure to it online, that they are self-diagnosing nonexistent myiasis. But the phrasing instead seems to say they're self-diagnosing with delusional parasitosis, when anosognosia is an inherent trait of the disorder, making self-diagnosis impossible. Likewise "Morgellons is considered to be a self-diagnosed subtype of this condition, in which individuals have sores that they believe contain harmful fibers." Self-diagnosing with morgellon's is similarly impossible by definition. In this case, the sentence seems to intend to cast doubt on the status of that disorder as a diagnosis by labelling it "merely self-diagnosed." That bias then leads to the contradictory statement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.190.13.201 (talk) 07:42, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

The article can be edited by you as it is not currently protected. Ping SandyGeorgia to review the above suggestion. Azuredivay (talk) 08:02, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the ping; the cited text is from Moriarty, which is not freely available. I will locate the source (somewhere on my other computer, or buried in a file in my desk) and add some quotes so this can be clarified better, probably by the end of today. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 14:25, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

I've located the source, and as our article reflects accurately what it says, there is no need to add quotes to the article. I have made these adjustments; the self-diagnosis is Morgellons. (It is unclear why the OP says, "Self-diagnosing with morgellon's is similarly impossible by definition.")

From the 2019 source, which is a recent secondary review:

Morgellons disease is a controversial topic and although the etiology is unclear, the current medical view includes this as a subtype of delusional infestation. Patients with Morgellons disease identify harmful fibers in the skin associated with formication or other cutaneous dysesthesias. Patient awareness and self-diagnosis of this condition has increased since the early 2000s, correlating with a strong online presence. Repeated attempts at histopathologic evaluation have not documented infectious causes.

SandyGeorgia (Talk) 20:18, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the review. I made the right choice not making any edits myself.66.190.13.201 (talk) 06:14, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

after other types of delusions such as body odor or halitosis

Erm, halitosis can be very real and is described as such by the hyperlink in the word halitosis.

I do not content that the subject may believe these ailments to be much worse than they really are, but the article describes them as outright delusions, which they are not. 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:8005:3B14:C6E:1AFB (talk) 13:37, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

I'm not sure you're parsing that text correctly, but if you were confused by it, so likely are others. Does this address your concern? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:52, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: WikiProject Medicine Fall 2024 UCF COM - Block 6

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 October 2024 and 17 November 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): SynapseScribe (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Chainzaw111.

— Assignment last updated by DLEMERGEBM (talk) 15:38, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

Plan for edits

This article thus far is extremely informative and well characterized. Any edits I intend to make at this point are to a) add updated information regarding this subject b) hopefully expand access by making the article easier to read, primarily through the hemingway app c) attempt to include more references that are free access. d) Additionally, there is at least one reference hyperlink that no longer works, so I intend to correct that reference. e) expand upon signs and symptoms, prognosis f) add in section regarding pathophysiology g) clarify relationship with morgellon's as article often goes back and forth h) add in images I will be utilizing Pubmed for my research. I will be prioritizing any of the sections that include medical information. I plan to expand upon most sections to provide further clarity and add in some sections regarding prognosis. SynapseScribe (talk) 19:22, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for the work. I plan to correct a number of issues your recent edits have introduced, but have no free time until mid-next week. Please be sure to use recent secondary reviews, as opposed to primary sources found on Pubmed. And please use the best sources, not necessarily those that are free. And note that links are courtesy. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:55, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. I would be happy to correct any issues you have identified. 2600:1702:50B2:6A10:CCB2:E7DF:7557:DF20 (talk) 14:34, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for the added content and improvements.

I will not have time to work on this for still/yet another week or more, but on a quick flyover, I will plan to address at least the following:

1. See WP:MEDDATE re use of a 2016 source that differs from newer sources. It is sometimes unavoidable to use older sources, but we shouldn't use them to contradict newer sources (eg epidemiology).
2. Some content belongs at the Morgellons article rather than here; a wikilink suffices rather than duplicating some content.
3. Please do not remove dead links when they can be replaced with a link to archive.org.
4. Wikipedia does not give medical advice: the article now contains at least three instances of the word should.
5. See WP:WFTWA; the article now uses the word patient dozens of times.
6. See the extensive talk page archives of WP:MED for problems with using "readability" apps, that introduce short choppy sentences and are not widely recognized as leading to a better result.
7. A bot has been fixing these, but see WP:REFPUNCT for correct placement of punctuation.
8. Please don't add (decorative) images simply for the sake of illustrating an article; more helpful is to locate and upload a freely available image rather than add in an image that doesn't really contribute to reader knowledge.

Sorry for the brevity; I have simply not had any free time due to real life issues. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:59, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for this detailed response, I agree with a lot of what was said! I addressed points 4 and 5 as these were mostly changes made by me that I could easily change. Thanks for pointing this out! SynapseScribe (talk) 18:07, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi SynapseScribe! I wanted to say great job on all your work thus far! It is clear you have put in a lot of effort into improving the article. Here is some feedback, which I tried to base off your original goals for the article:

- You have updated the content significantly, especially regarding diagnosis and secondary causes. It really helps the reader be informed of clinical perspectives and associated medical conditions.

- The description of the signs and symptoms is clear and detailed. I think your focus on tactile hallucinations and psychological aspects were written very well.

- This topic is pretty complex, but you have managed to do a good job in presenting the information well and breaking down technical/medical terms, especially in the Diagnosis section. However, I would recommend utilizing the Hemingway App to make sure the information is at a readable level - although I understand this can be difficulty to do while still conveying the same message. I believe the current Hemingway score is around Grade 16.

- For the prognosis section, it might be beneficial to add information about long-term outcomes or factors that influence the treatment/recovery, such as effects of early diagnosis or adherence to treatment.

- Your original plan included adding a Pathophysiology section, and I feel like this still would be a great addition to the article!

- In your original plan, you also mentioned clarifying the relationship with Morgellon's. The article discusses Morgellons intermittently but doesn’t clarify its connection to delusional parasitosis explicitly, so maybe creating a standalone subsection to clearly address its relationship with delusional parasitosis might be beneficial.

- I know it might be difficult to find images for this topic, but adding visuals might help with the readability of the article.

- The links I checked were all working and references seemed appropriate.

Overall, I think you’ve done an excellent job improving the article! You really did great expanding the medical information and highlighting key clinical aspects. I definitely learned a lot reading this article, and I'm sure a lot more readers will too! Chainzaw111 (talk) 23:24, 12 November 2024 (UTC)