ICU Psychosis
(Intensive Care Unit Psychosis)

Medical Author: Maureen Welker, MSN, NPc, CCRN
Medical Editor: William C. Shiel, Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

• What is ICU psychosis?
• What causes ICU psychosis?
• What are the symptoms of ICU psychosis?
• How is ICU psychosis diagnosed?
• How is ICU psychosis treated?
• Can ICU psychosis be prevented?
• How long does ICU psychosis last?
• How common is ICU psychosis?
• What is an example of a situation of ICU psychosis?
• Can ICU psychosis be dangerous?
• ICU psychosis At A Glance

What is ICU psychosis?

ICU psychosis is a disorder in which patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) or a similar setting experience a cluster of serious psychiatric symptoms. Another term that may be used interchangeably for ICU psychosis is ICU syndrome. ICU psychosis is also a form of delirium, or acute brain failure.

What causes ICU psychosis?

Environmental Causes

• Sensory deprivation: A patient being put in a room that often has no windows, and is away from family, friends, and all that is familiar and comforting.

• Sleep disturbance and deprivation: The constant disturbance and noise with the hospital staff coming at all hours to check vital signs, give medications, etc.

• Continuous light levels: Continuous disruption of the normal biorhythms with lights on continually (no reference to day or  night).

• Stress: Patients in an ICU frequently feel the almost total loss of control over their life.

• Lack of orientation: A patient's loss of time and date.

• Medical monitoring: The continuous monitoring of the patient's vital signs, and the noise monitoring devices produce can be disturbing and create sensory overload.

Medical Causes

• Pain which may not be adequately controlled in an ICU

• Critical illness: The pathophysiology of the disease, illness or traumatic event - the stress on the body during an illness can cause a variety of symptoms.

• Medication (drug) reaction or side effects: The administration of medications typically given to the patient in the hospital setting that they have not taken before.

• Infection creating fever and toxins in the body.

• Metabolic disturbances: electrolyte imbalance, hypoxia (low blood oxygen levels), and elevated liver enzymes.

• Heart failure (inadequate cardiac output)

• Cumulative analgesia (the inability to feel pain while still conscious)

• Dehydration

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