People with brief psychotic disorder have at least one of the following symptoms:
Delusions (false beliefs that people maintain against strong evidence)
Hallucinations
Disorganized speech
Very disorganized or catatonic (immobile or unresponsive) behavior
Doctors diagnose brief psychotic disorder if the person's symptoms last less than 1 month and another disorder does not better account for symptoms. Other disorders that can produce similar symptoms include adverse drug effects, medical problems such as a brain tumor or temporal lobe epilepsy, schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality (psychosis), hallucinations (usually, hearing voices), firmly held false beliefs (delusions), abnormal thinking... read more , and schizoaffective disorder Schizoaffective Disorder Schizoaffective disorder is characterized by the presence of mood symptoms, such as depression or mania, plus the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. Psychosis refers to symptoms such as delusions... read more .
Treatment of brief psychotic disorder is similar to treatment of schizophrenia Treatment Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality (psychosis), hallucinations (usually, hearing voices), firmly held false beliefs (delusions), abnormal thinking... read more and requires a doctor's supervision and sometimes short-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs Antipsychotic Drugs Psychosis refers to symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and bizarre and inappropriate motor behavior that indicate loss of contact with reality. A number... read more .
Relapse is common, but people with brief psychotic disorder typically function well between episodes and have few or no symptoms.
