Mummification and folie à deux

Mummification is the preservation of the effects and/or corpse of a loved one. Psychiatric literature regarding this condition is reviewed and a case is presented in which a mother's paranoid psychosis is discovered following her apparent mummification of her son's corpse. In retrospect, it appears that a diagnosis of folie à deux pertained to this pair. The authors contend that mummification may represent the outcome of a shared delusional system and that failure to establish psychiatric diagnoses in those who practice mummification has been the result of inherent difficulties in diagnosing paranoid disorders.