Psychotic Disorders
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What Are Psychotic Disorders?
Psychotic disorders are mental disorders in which a person’s personality is severely confused and that person loses touch with reality. When a psychotic episode occurs, a person becomes unsure about what is real and what isn’t real and usually experiences hallucinations, delusions, off-the-wall behavior, chaotic speech and incoherency. A person behaving in this manner is often referred to as being schizophrenic.
A hallucination is an internal sensory perception that isn’t actually present and can be either visual or auditory. Smelling odors or having a funny taste in the mouth are other hallucinations that may occur. A delusion is defined as a false, inaccurate belief that a person holds on to. A grandiose delusion occurs when a person believes that their life is out of proportion as compared to what is really true. For example, a patient may believe that she is God or Jesus Christ. A persecutory delusion occurs when a person believes that there is a conspiracy amongst others to attack, punish or harass him. Although these hallucinations and delusions appear odd to others, they are very real to the person with the disorder.
What Are the Types of Psychotic Disorders?
Schizophrenia
The most common psychotic disorder is schizophrenia. Patients with this condition experience changes in behavior, delusions and hallucinations that last longer than six months. Those diagnosed with this type of disorder often show a decline in social function, school and work.
Schizoaffective Disorder
Patients with schizoaffective disorder have symptoms of both a mood disorder, such as depression and schizophrenia.
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Schizophreniform Disorder
When a patient with schizophrenia has symptoms that last fewer than six months are diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder.
Brief Psychotic Disorder
When a patient has only short, sudden episodes of psychotic behavior, the condition is diagnosed as brief psychotic disorder. These episodes are typically a response to a stressful situation and usually last less than a month.
Delusional Disorder
Patients that have false, fixed beliefs involving real-life situations that could be true, such as having a disease or being conspired against, are diagnosed with delusional disorder. These delusions persist for at least one month.
Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder
Sometimes, withdrawal from substances like methamphetamines and alcohol cause delusions and hallucinations. This is known as substance-induced psychotic disorder.
Psychotic Disorder Due to a Medical Condition
When psychotic disorder symptoms are a result of illnesses that affect the function of the brain, such as a brain tumor, the patient is diagnosed with psychotic disorder due to a medical condition.
Paraphrenia
Paraphrenia is schizophrenia in elderly patients.
Who Can Get a Psychotic Disorder?
Approximately 1 percent of the population suffers from a psychotic disorder. These conditions are most commonly found in people in their late teens to early thirties and effects men and women equally. Like many other mental disorders, psychotic disorders are often genetic. People who have a family member with this type of disorder are more likely to develop it than those who do not have a family history of it. It is also believed that these disorders are related to the hyper activity of chemicals in the brain that are vital to normal functioning. Additionally, those who experienced brain injury during fetal development or childhood are at a higher risk of developing the condition.
How Are Psychotic Disorders Diagnosed?
If the symptoms of a psychotic disorder appear in an individual, the doctor will conduct a physical exam as well as gather medical history. Once physical reasons for the abnormal behaviors are ruled out, the doctor will then refer the patient to a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists have a specific set of tools to properly diagnose a psychotic disorder.
How are Psychotic Disorders Treated?
The two main forms of treatment for psychotic disorders are medication and psychotherapy. The signature medications to treat psychotic disorders are antipsychotics. These medications aid in managing the symptoms of the disease like the hallucinations and delusions. Some examples of antipsychotics are pimozide, haloperidol, chlorpromazine and amisulpride. Depending on how each individual is affected by the medications, it may be necessary for the doctor to prescribe more than one consecutively until the proper medication is found that meets the required results.
Psychotherapy for psychotic disorders may include individual sessions, family sessions and support groups. While most patients are treated as outpatients, in severe cases, such as when the physical well-being is in danger, hospitalization may be necessary to stabilize the patient’s condition.
In addition to medication and psychotherapy, self-help can also aid in successfully managing living with psychotic disorders. It is important that the patient learn how to cope when these episodes occur and learn how to find help on treating someone with psychosis. Studying and learning as much as possible about the specific disorder is vital to managing a healthy, happy, fulfilling life.
What Is the Prognosis for Those with Psychotic Disorders?
Many people who have been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder tend to lead productive lives and function normally with the proper treatment. The prognosis for those with psychotic disorders varies from person to person. For example, women tend to respond better to medication than men. Those with a family history of illness have a lower prognosis than those without. The number of negative symptoms also determines the individual prognosis as well as age; the older the patient, the more promising prognosis. Another important factor in determining prognosis is the individual’s support system. Most will never fully recover from or be cured of psychotic disorders and will need to continue treatment for the duration of their lives. To maintain mental and physical stability with the condition, it is important for patients to strictly follow the treatment of psychotic disorders recommended by their healthcare providers.
For more on the topic of Psychotic Disorders, we’ve included the following expert consensus documents as reference materials:
View Resources
- IU – information about psychotic disorder
- Psychiatry Medicine IU – information about psychotic disorder
- UMN – general information about psychotic disorder
- Disorders – brief psychotic disorder
- Anger Disorders – general information about psychotic disorder
