Psychotic disorder due to another medical condition is characterized by hallucinations or delusions that are caused by another general medical condition.
Psychosis refers to symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and bizarre and inappropriate body movements that indicate loss of contact with reality.
This diagnosis applies when psychosis is the result of a general medical condition rather than a mental illness such as schizophrenia. For example, people with temporal lobe epilepsy sometimes hallucinate that they are smelling things that are not present.
Other general medical conditions that may cause psychosis include brain tumors and infections, stroke, migraine, some hormone disorders, as well as autoimmune, metabolic, nutritional, and neurologic disorders. However, people who have severe confusion (delirium) from a severe medical illness or drug withdrawal are not considered to have psychotic disorder due to a general medical condition.
Treating the general medical condition often reduces the severity of psychotic symptoms, but some people also need specific treatment for the psychotic symptoms.
