Brief Psychotic Disorder
Clinical Description
Brief Psychotic Disorder is the sudden, short-term onset of psychotic behavior that lasts less than 1 month followed by complete remission to the premorbid level of functioning with possible future relapses.
Symptoms (Diagnostic Criteria)
Presence of one or more of the following symptoms (at least one must be 1, 2, or 3):
- Delusions: Fixed false beliefs about reality that persist despite evidence to the contrary.
- Hallucinations: False perceptions of objects or events that involve the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste).
- Disorganized speech: Examples include abrupt switching from one topic to another (derailment), constant digressing to random, irrelevant ideas and topics (tangentiality), and incomprehensible speech (incoherence or "word salad").
- Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior: Examples include childlike "silliness," unpredictable agitation, decreased reactivity to the environment, resistance to instructions (negativism), maintaining a rigid, inappropriate, or bizarre posture (stupor), complete lack of verbal and motor responses (mutism), and purposeless and excessive motor activity without an obvious cause (catatonic excitement).
Duration
Each of the symptoms has been present for at least 1 day, but less than 1 month, with eventual full return to premorbid level of functioning.
Age Onset and Age Requirement
- Typically emerge in adolescence or early adulthood
- Mean age onset: Mid-30s
Treatments
- Medication: Antipsychotics to help manage symptoms.
- Psychotherapy: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help patients develop coping mechanisms and manage distressing thoughts and behaviors.