Brief reactive psychosis

Brief Psychotic Disorder. This diagnosis also differs from schizophrenia by virtue of the duration of symptoms. The symptoms mnst last less than 1 month, and the patient must return to his/her previous level of social functioning when the illness subsides. Formerly called brief reactive psychosis, an episode of this illness usually arises in reaction to some markedly stressfnl event, thongh this is not always the case. 

For many years, schizophrenia was divided into process (core) and reactive types. More recent investigations indicate that the reactive psychotic group has many affective, as well as schizophrenic features (e.g., family histories). This distinction is recognized in the DSM-IV ( 373) by such disorders as schizophreniform, schizoaffective, and brief reactive psychosis. 

Little work has been done on the drug treatment of schizophreniform or brief reactive psychosis. Flirschowitz et al. ( 374) further explored the range of lithium s efficacy by systematically treating patients with schizophrenic or schizophreniform disorders. They found that poor-prognosis schizophrenia rarely responded to lithium. 

Complicating the proper assessment and, by implication, the most appropriate therapy for many patients, is the very real possibility of neuropsychiatric syndromes that may mimic classic psychiatric disorders, exacerbate them, or coexist with such disorders as major depression, panic attacks, and brief reactive psychosis. Thus, the CNS may be affected by various primary malignancies or secondary metastases cardiovascular disorders, leading to ischemic episodes or hemorrhagic events and several HIV-related complications. 

Brief reactive psychosis Delusional disorder Schizophrenia Schizophreniform disorder Schizoaffective disorder Induced psychotic disorder... 

Brief reactive psychosis refers to a condition in which a person has psychotic S)unptoms lasting from a few hours to a month. There usually is some identifiable stressor that has precipitated the psychosis, and the person demonstrates significant emotional turmoil. The symptoms may be identical to that seen in schizophrenia, but they remit in a fairly brief period of time (less than one month). 

---