Symptoms include:
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Disorganized speech
- Catatonic/Disorganized behavior

Symptoms end within a month and can be treated with antipsychotic medications.

To be diagnosed with BPD one needs to:
- Have at least one positive psychotic symptom (one of the ones in the list above);
- Have been experiencing the symptom for more than a day but less than a month.

It is also important to make sure the patient does not suffer from another condition that can have led to the listed psychotic symptoms.

Symptoms of Brief Psychotic Disorder

The cause of Brief Psychotic Disorder is still being studied but it seems to be due to a stressful or traumatic event in the patient's life. Such traumatic onsets can vary, and some examples include:
- If someone experiences an extremely stressful event that anyone would find traumatic, that is considered a marked stressor. Examples include: death, natural disasters, time in the military, and immigration. These patients are considered to have brief reactive psychosis.
- On the other hand, if their symptoms begin without marked stressors, they're considered to have brief psychotic disorder.
- Brief psychotic disorder can also stem from giving birth. In this case, symptoms would be present within the four weeks postpartum.

However, genetic, neurological, or environmental components may also play a role in the development of BPD.

Causes of Brief Psychotic Disorder

Brief Psychotic Disorder is not common and its incidence varies greatly between populations. In general, it is more common amongst people under a lot of stress. For example, immigrants, refugees, and victims of natural disasters. Another important factor is the country in which the person resides. According to the World Health Organization, people in developing countries are ten times more likely to have BPD than those in developed countries. Incidence is also higher amongst women and people with personality disorders.

Incidence of Brief Psychotic Disorder

Even though there aren't any specific tests used to diagnose BPD, others can be used to eliminate presence of other conditions. These can include:
- Serum pregnancy test in women;
- Urine toxicology tests to determine if the person is using drugs or medication;
- CT and MRI scans of the brain;
- ECG, electrolytes, glucose level, liver function tests, thyroid function tests, and urinalysis.

A diagnosis can only be established if symptoms have ended after one month. However, within that month, a clinician might diagnose the patient with a general psychotic disorder before giving a final diagnosis, as symptoms may change.

Diagnosing Brief Psychotic Disorder

Nowadays, BPD is mainly treated through pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. Treatment usually begins with prescribing second-generation antipsychotics. It is recommended that the patient continues taking such medication for up to three months after symptoms end. Even though second-generation antipsychotics are usually used to treat BPD, first-generation antipsychotics and benzodiazepines can also be used. The type of drug prescribed will depend on the patient's profile and side-effects. In addition to pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy is also essential as psychotic symptoms can lead to challenges in one's life and their relationship with others. This form of treatment emphasizes working on managing symptoms that came with or due to BPD, developing coping skills, and encouraging social interaction. This form of treatment should be long-term to avoid relapses.

Treating Brief Psychotic Disorder

Based on DSM-5 criteria, symptoms of Brief Psychotic Disorder end within one month of onset. However, if the patient is also diagnosed with other disorders that also involve psychosis, symptoms may last longer. Aside from that, the patient can also experience another traumatic experience that can lead to BPD again. Hence, the prognosis for patients that do not have family members with psychotic disorders, do not live in a stressful environment, and have not been diagnosed with another disorder is more promising.

Prognosis of Brief Psychotic Disorder

A sudden and temporary display of psychotic behavior, and can be triggered by extreme stress and trauma. This episode lasts less than a month, and is followed by complete remission, though future relapses are possible. 

Syracuse University

University of Rochester

Psychotic disorders are severe mental illnesses characterized by thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors that are so impaired the individual cannot function normally and becomes disconnected from reality. This state of being disconnected from the world is known as psychosis. People with these disorders often lose contact with reality and may experience extreme symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. Schizophrenia is a primary example of a psychotic disorder.

Psychotic Disorders

The DSM-5-TR separates Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders into the following specific disorders and groups:

- Schizotypal (Personality Disorder)
- Delusional Disorder
- Brief Psychotic Disorder
- Schizophreniform Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Schizoaffective Disorder
- Substance/Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorder
- Psychotic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition
- Catatonia*
- Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder
- Unspecified Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder


[DSM-5-TR] List of Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disorganized speech

Common Symptoms Across Psychotic Disorders

Empirically supported treatments for psychotic disorders. 

Psychotic Disorder Treatments

Brief psychotic disorder

Schizophrenia is a severe psychological disorder that leads to a profound breakdown in an individual's ability to function, often necessitating hospitalization. It is characterized by significant disruptions in thought, perception, emotion, and behavior, including symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, incoherent thinking, bizarre actions, flat emotions, and a lack of motivation for basic activities. It is important to distinguish schizophrenia from dissociative identity disorder ('split personality'), as the term 'schizophrenia' refers to a 'splitting of psychic functions,' not a divided personality.

Schizophrenia

Also called folie à deux, this occurs when one person in a relationship that has a delusion influences the other to develop that delusion. This can happen to groups too, referred to as folie à plusiers, and can be seen in cults. 

Shared psychotic disorder

Previously referred to as paranoid disorder, delusional disorder is characterized by an inability to recognize reality from false beliefs called delusions. It occurs more often in middle age or later in life. This disorder is diagnosed when someone holds one or more non-bizarre delusions as truth for a month or more. These delusions cannot be sourced from culture or other causes. Symptoms include irritability and hallucinations.  

Delusional Disorder

Psychotic Disorder References

Lynn, S. J., Polizzi, C., Merckelbach, H., Chiu, C.-D., Maxwell, R., van Heugten, D., &amp; Lilienfeld, S. O. (2022). Dissociation and dissociative disorders reconsidered: Beyond sociocognitive and trauma models toward a transtheoretical framework. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 18(1), 259–289. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081219-102424 

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework

- Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)
- Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS)
- Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS)
- Dyskinesia Identification System Condensed User Scale (DISCUS)
- Clinician-Related Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity (CRDPSS)

Current Scale to measure Psychotic Disorder Symptoms

Psychosis is a condition in which an individual becomes disconnected from the world that most people inhabit. It is the defining feature of a psychotic disorder, where a person's thoughts and perceptions are fundamentally impaired, leading to a loss of contact with reality.

Psychosis

A patient reports a firm belief that their neighbor is secretly a government agent who is replacing their thoughts with new ones via a hidden device. The patient cannot be persuaded otherwise, even when presented with contradictory evidence. This profound disconnection from a commonly shared sense of reality is the central feature of which category of mental illness?

A personality disorder characterized by: 
- Various oddities of thought, perception, speech, and behavior that are not severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Symptoms may include:
- Perceptual distortions
- Magical thinking
- Social isolation 
- Vague speech without incoherence
- Inadequate rapport with others due to aloofness or lack of feeling
- Symptoms not because of schizophrenia, other psychotic disorder, or ASD

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Schizophreniform disorder is a psychotic disorder that affects action, thought, relationship with others, emotional expression, and reality perceived within one to six months lasting duration.

Schizophreniform Disorder

An uninterrupted illness featuring at some time a major depressive episode, manic episode, or mixed episode concurrently with characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia (e.g., delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonic behavior) and, in the same period, delusions or hallucinations for at least 2 weeks in the absence of prominent mood symptoms. DSM–5 identifies the mood episodes only as either major depressive or manic and emphasizes that mood disturbances must be present for a majority of the time.

Schizoaffective Disorder

Substance/medication-induced psychotic disorder occurs when a specific substance (e.g., cocaine, dexamethasone) causes the delusions and/or hallucinations, or other schizophrenic-like symptoms. It is not to be confused with Substance/Medication-Induced Sleep Disorder.

Substance/Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorder

This condition is when hallucinations and delusions occur are physiologically caused by a separate medical condition. Psychosis appears outside states of delirium as well. The disorder significantly interferes with major areas of life.

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