Brief Psychotic Disorder - a common condition, virtually unknown

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In a city of a million people, about three cases per day - or in a large psychiatric hospitals acute admissions ward, a new case arriving every week or two.

That's about how common is a condition variously termed Brief Psychotic Disorder, or Psychogenic Psychosis, or Schizophreniform Disorder.

In other words it happens quite a lot - it will probably happen to someone you know.

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A person is brought into hospital (usually against their wishes, brought in by their terrified family, or the police) with some kind of acute, excited, aggressive psychotic breakdown following several days or weeks of escalating disturbance - usually associated with a period of unusual stress or hard work, many late nights - perhaps skipping sleep.

They may be typically manic (happy or angry, over-active, grandiose, talking too much and too loud, impulsive, over-bearing); or a more typically schizophrenic picture (puzzled, suspicious, hearing voices, believing they are being observed, victim of some conspiracy, jumbled nonsensical speech); or there may be catatonic posturing and strange movements...

Very abnormal, very severe, very scary.

Yet after just a few days of admission, with sedation or tranquillization, a few nights of sleep - the patient completely recovers back to normal and may leave hospital within a week - and never suffer any further problems.

And that is that.

Or that is how it used to be... 

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Except that nowadays, in the developed world, they will likely be given antipsychotic (aka neroleptic, 'mood stabilizer') drugs, and kept on them after discharge - supposedly to 'prevent' future problems.

And will therefore suffer the inevitable and severe Parkinsonian effects of antipsychotics; including demotivation, inability to experience pleasure, lack of drive -the drugs will probably make them constantly sleepy and obese...

http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/99/6/417.full

And after a few months of 'preventive' treatment ('to be on the safe side') inevitably they will become dependent on the antipsychotics; so that if or when the drugs are stopped, they have a high chance of suffering a withdrawal-triggered psychotic breakdown - which will then be taken as proof that they 'need' the drug, and indeed need the drugs for the rest of their lives...

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In psychiatry, all the drugs, without any exceptions, cause greater or lesser dependence when taken in significant doses for a few months - but the fact is not acknowledged; so long term covert (un-acknowledged) drug dependence is relabelled as disease.

http://medicalhypotheses.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/covert-drug-dependence.html)

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So quite likely, nowadays, thanks to covert drug dependence, the patient with brief psychotic disorder will never recover from their breakdown; will never return to their former level of functioning - they will instead become a chronic psychiatric patient (and prescribed drug consumer) for the rest of their days (which may not be very long, considering that antipsychotics substantially elevate all-cause mortality rates). 

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In this brave new world where an on-patent and useless antipyschotic (Ablify) is the biggest selling drug of all drugs in the world; the person with a brief psychotic episode will not be allowed to recover and walk away; but will very likely be made into a fake diagnosis of 'bipolar disorder' or 'schizophrenia' or whatever is being promoted - and will spend the rest of their lives as impaired and dependent.

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Why am I telling you this?

Because it may well affect you or your loved ones.

Antipsychotic prescriptions are sky high - when described as 'mood stabilizers' they are being given to people with mild, temporary and imaginary illnesses; they are being given to teenagers, young children and toddlers; the drugs are being given supposedly to prevent the 'risk' of future illness without any awareness that long-term antipsychotic drugs always cause present and future impairment and illness.

In sum antipsychotics (including labelled as 'mood stabilizers') are being grossly, hideously, evilly over-prescribed - millions of lives have been, are being, ruined for faked reasons on false grounds.

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Why am I telling you this?

Because you may not have known that people can and do suffer severe psychotic breakdowns, yet these people would be expected to get better very quickly and (if left alone) will probably never experience any further trouble.

This is fairly common.

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Why am I telling you this? 

So you know to resist 'medical advice' which would - instead of letting the patient (which may be you) get better and stay well - will instead lead to them getting permanently-hooked on dangerous, brain impairing and dependence-producing drugs.

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Antipsychotics are very nasty drugs - they should be used seldom, in as low as dose  as possible and for as briefly as possible; and only as a last resort.

Avoid - if at all possible - the risk of getting dependent on them.

Addiction to a drug that makes you high or happy is a bad thing; but to become dependent on a drug that makes you look, act and feel like a dull, demotivated zombie, and probably prevents you ever holding a responsible job, is much, much worse.

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