Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis, an essential differential diagnosis in psychiatry: a case report

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis (anti-NMDAR encephalitis) is arare and recently discovered disease. Affected patients are initially often referred to psychiatric departments due to prominent neuropsychiatric symptoms.We present the course of the illness of an 18-year-old female patient, who was primarily and for the first time admitted to the 1.Psychiatric Department of the Otto Wagner Hospital Vienna due to apsychotic disorder. With fluctuating clinical course, further diagnostics were performed and the patient was diagnosed with anti-NMDAR encephalitis.Anti-NMDAR encephalitis should especially be considered in young women, who suffer from afirst-onset psychotic disorder in combination with neurological and vegetative symptoms.If suspected lumbar puncture is indicated. An interdisciplinary approach is indispensable for this disease and can be achallenge for psychiatrists in charge.Psychiatrists should consider encephalitis, autoimmune encephalitis in particular, as differential diagnosis in clinical practice and get more familiar with these complex conditions.