TABLE 1-4 - Causes of Acute Psychotic Syndromes

Causes of Acute Psychotic Syndromes

Major psychiatric disorders   Acute exacerbation of schizophrenia   Atypical psychoses (e.g., schizophreniform)   Depression with psychotic features   Mania Drug abuse and withdrawal   Alcohol withdrawal   Amphetamines and cocaine   Phencyclidine (PCP) and hallucinogens   Sedative-hypnotic withdrawal Prescription drugs   Anticholinergic agents   Digitalis toxicity   Glucocorticoids and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)   Isoniazid   L-Dopa and other dopamine agonists   Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents   Withdrawal from MAOls Other toxic agents   Carbon disulfide   Heavy metals Neurologic causes   AIDS encephalopathy

Brain tumor   Complex partial seizures   Early Alzheimer's or Pick's disease   Huntington's disease   Hypoxic encephalopathy   Infectious viral encephalitis   Lupus cerebritis   Neurosyphilis   Stroke   Wilson's disease Metabolic causes   Acute intermittent porphyria   Cushing's syndrome   Early hepatic encephalopathy   Hypo- and hypercalcemia   Hypoglycemia   Hypo- and hyperthyroidism   Paraneoplastic syndromes (limbic encephalitis) Nutritional causes   Niacin deficiency (pellagra)   Thiamine deficiency (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome)   Vitamin B 12 deficiency

Reproduced with permission from Hyman SE, Arana GW, Rosenbaum JE Handbook of psychiatric drug therapy. 4th ed. Philadelphia:
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2000.