Delirio paranoide de los ciegos (síndrome de Sanchís-Banús)

In 1915, the «paranoid delusion of the deaf» was described by Kraepelin as a paranoid reaction which appeared in sensory impairment situations. This clinical presentation was based, following Kraepelin, on both the characterial disposition of the person and insecurity personality traits. In 1924, the Spanish psychiatrist Sanchís-Banús, looking further into Kraepelinian nosology, described a similar clinical presentation of paranoid reaction in blind people. Sanchís-Banús focused on two patients who became blind and who, due to environmental stress developed paranoid and jealousy delusional ideas. The patients did not have psychiatric backgrounds, and suicidal attempts were made in both cases. The so-called «Sanchís-Banús syndrome» (SBS) was mentioned in later classical German texts of Psychiatry (e. g., Bumke), and also in phenomenological Spanish books of that period (e. g., Alonso-Fernández; Barcia, Ruiz-Ogara & López-Ibor; Barcia). However, we must emphasize that there are references either SBS or the Kraepelinian «delusion of the deaf» in English language databases. We present a case-report of «paranoid delusion of the blind» (SBS), quite similar in its clinical characteristics to those of the original patients of Sanchís-Banús. The nosological, clinical, and prognostic features of SBS are discussed in light of the current literature.