The 8 Types of Psychotic Disorders

What kinds of psychotic disorders are there and what are the characteristics of each?

The psychotic disorders are severe psychopathologies in which the person loses contact with reality. The most characteristic symptoms are hallucinations and delusions.

Delusions are defined as false beliefs. That is to say, erroneous beliefs of the reality on an existing fact or object. They are a distortion of an external stimulus. For example, a patient with delusions may think that someone is following him because there is a conspiracy against him.

In contrast, hallucinations are false perceptions, such as hearing, seeing or feeling something that does not actually exist.. These perceptions are invented by the mind and are not the product of the distortion of any present object, since something is perceived without taking into account external stimuli. For example, a patient with schizophrenia may believe that he or she is being talked to through the shower drain.

Delusions are characteristic of delusional disorder, whereas hallucinations predominate in schizophrenic disorder. Both of these psychopathologies are the best known psychotic disorders, but there are also less popular ones.

Types of Psychotic Disorders

According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) there are the following psychotic disorders:

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a disorder in which the person suffering from it has the sufferer has hallucinations and disturbing thoughts that isolate him or her from social activity.. Schizophrenia is a very serious pathology and its treatment requires the use of drugs so that the patient does not suffer from outbreaks. Although there is no cure, there are effective treatments so that patients with this disorder can enjoy their lives.

The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into positive and negative. The former are manifestations that the patient does or experiences, and that healthy people do not usually present. Negative symptoms are those things that the patient stops doing and that healthy people can do on a daily basis, such as thinking fluently and logically.

Positive Symptoms

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Disorganized thoughts
• Disorganized behaviors or Catatonia

Negative Symptoms

• Lack of interest or initiative
• Apathy
• Social withdrawal or depression
• Lack of emotional response

Types of Schizophrenia

There are different types of schizophrenia:

• Paranoid schizophreniaIt is the most common. Predominance of delusional ideas.
• Hebephrenic schizophrenia.Predominance of emotional alterations. For example, the patient laughs for no reason.
• Catatonic schizophreniaCharacterized by motor disturbances. With persistent immobility, although it can alternate with crises of agitation.
• Undifferentiated SchizophreniaWhen a schizophrenia does not meet the criteria of the previous types or presents several symptoms at the same time of the types mentioned above.

Delusional Disorder

Delusional disorder, also known as paranoiais characterized by the patient has one or more delusional ideas and is convinced that they are true.. For example, while walking through a shopping mall, he believes that some people (whom he does not even know) are watching him in order to send information to someone who intends to kill him. There are several types of delusional disorders depending on the nature of the delusion (e.g., persecutory delusional disorder).

Regarding treatment, patients are often resistant and, on many occasions, tend to hide the delirium, which is known as "encapsulated delirium". Treatment includes psychotherapy and the use of antipsychotics.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

As its name indicates, this is a psychopathology in which a psychotic a psychotic outbreak may appear with the same symptoms as a schizophrenic disorder, but it lasts a few days and never affects the patient again. and does not affect the patient ever again. Therefore, it disappears without leaving sequelae. It is usually a response to a traumatic event such as the death of a family member or a time of extreme stress.

Schizophreniform Disorder

Schizophreniform disorder is similar to brief psychotic disorder, but lasts between 1 month and 6 months. Patients show different symptoms of schizophreniform show different symptoms of schizophreniadelusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonia, and/or negative symptoms.

Schizoaffective Disorder

In this type of psychotic disorder called schizoaffective disorder, the patient experiences symptoms of schizophrenia along with symptoms of a mood disorder, either at the same time or alternately.either at the same time or alternately.

Shared Psychotic Disorder or "folie à deux".

Shared psychotic disorder is a rare and unusual pathology, in that two people share the same delusions and hallucinations.. The exact cause of this psychotic disorder is unknown; however, it is possible that stress and social isolation play an important role in its development.

Substance-induced psychotic disorder

This type of psychotic disorder is characterized as being caused by intoxication due to the use of drugs or pharmaceuticals.. Symptoms usually appear quickly and last for a short time, from a few hours to several days, but then the effects of the drugs disappear.

The most common symptoms are visual hallucinations, disorientation, and memory problems. Some substances that cause this disorder can be: marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogenic inhalants, MDMA, opiates, sedatives, hypnotics and anxiolytics.

Psychotic Disorder due to a medical illness

Psychotic disorder due to medical illness occurs when the symptoms of psychotic disorder are the result of diseases that affect brain function (e.g., a brain tumor).