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Delineation of Acute and Transient Psychotic Disorders in a Developing Country Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ezra Susser*
Affiliation:
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatry Institute, N.Y., U.S.A.
Vijoy K. Varma
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Savita Malhotra
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Sarah Conover
Affiliation:
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatry Institute, N.Y., U.S.A.
Xavier F. Amador
Affiliation:
Columbia University and New York State Psychiatry Institute, N.Y., U.S.A.
*
Professor Ezra Susser, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Box 24, 722 West 168th Street, New York, N.Y. 10032, U.S.A.

Abstract

Background

We examined whether acute transient psychoses can be distinguished from schizophrenia and the affective disorders.

Method

We studied 46 cases of nonaffective acute psychosis in the Chandigarh Acute Psychosis Study. With respect to separation from schizophrenia, we examined the distribution of duration of the episode. With respect to separation from affective disorders, we assessed the frequency of affective symptoms.

Results

Duration was bimodal, suggesting the presence of two distinct conditions of short and long duration. Affective symptoms were minimal, suggesting that these were not atypical affective syndromes.

Conclusions

Acute transient psychoses conform neither with schizophrenia of brief duration nor with atypical affective psychosis, and thus require separate classification as proposed in the ICD–10.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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