Psychosis refers to symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and bizarre and inappropriate motor behavior (including catatonia) that indicate loss of contact with reality.
This diagnosis applies when psychosis is due to the physiologic effects of a medical condition. Examples are psychotic behavior or olfactory hallucinations that are sometimes associated with temporal lobe epilepsy and the contralateral neglect syndrome that is sometimes caused by parietal lobe lesions.
Other medical disorders that may cause psychosis include central nervous system tumors and infections, stroke Overview of Stroke Strokes are a heterogeneous group of disorders involving sudden, focal interruption of cerebral blood flow that causes neurologic deficit. Strokes can be Ischemic (80%), typically resulting... read more , migraine Migraine Migraine is an episodic primary headache disorder. Symptoms typically last 4 to 72 hours and may be severe. Pain is often unilateral, throbbing, worse with exertion, and accompanied by symptoms... read more , and various endocrine disorders.
The diagnosis is not used if patients have a psychologically mediated response to medical illness (eg, intensive care unit [ICU] psychosis), psychosis due to the effects of drugs Substance-/Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorder Substance- or medication-induced psychotic disorder is characterized by hallucinations and/or delusions due to the direct effects of a substance or withdrawal from a substance in the absence... read more or drug withdrawal, or delirium Delirium Delirium is an acute, transient, usually reversible, fluctuating disturbance in attention, cognition, and consciousness level. Causes include almost any disorder or drug. Diagnosis is clinical... read more caused by a medical condition.
It is essential to establish a temporal relationship between the medical and psychotic condition (ie, they begin and end at the same time).
Treating the medical condition often reduces the severity of psychotic symptoms, but some patients also need specific treatment for the psychotic symptoms.
(See also Introduction to Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Introduction to Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders— brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder—are characterized... read more .)