Neurological motor disorders experienced as religious phenomena: role of abnormal movement monitoring.

We describe two cases of neurological motor disorders which were experienced as religious-mystical phenomena by elderly psychotic ladies. One of the patients interpreted a mild hemiparesis as a message from divine forces that changed her left to her right and vice versa. The other patient felt that her perphenazine-induced tardive dyskinesia was the voluntary reading of a silent mantra. Involvement of mystical or religious terms in the interpretation of physical symptoms may lead to the lack of adequate treatment and care. We suggest that a psychosis-related inability to monitor one's own motor behavior is the crucial factor leading to peculiar perception of motor disorders.