Psychotic Disorders

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2. Take the Schizophrenia Quiz

Medical Author:

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD

Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Developmental Disabilities for the American Psychiatric Association, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Medical Director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda, Maryland.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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• Psychotic disorders include schizophrenia and a number of lesser-known disorders.
• The number of people who develop a psychotic disorder tends to vary depending on the country, age, and gender of the sufferer, as well as on the specific kind of disorder.
• There are genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological risk factors for developing a psychotic disorder.
• Usually with any psychotic disorder, the person's inner world and behavior have notably changed.
• When assessing a person suffering from psychotic symptoms, health care professionals will take a careful history of the symptoms from the person and loved ones as well as conduct a medical evaluation including necessary laboratory tests and a mental health assessment.
• Most effective treatments for psychotic disorders are comprehensive, involving appropriate medications, mental health education, and psychotherapy for the sufferer of psychosis and his or her loved ones. It will also include the involvement of community supportive services when needed.
• Prevention of psychosis primarily involves preventing or decreasing the impact of factors that put the person at risk for developing a psychotic disorder.

In addition to the more commonly known mental disorders like schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders include brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, substance-induced psychotic disorder, psychosis due to a medical condition, and psychotic disorder, not otherwise specified (NOS). Women who recently had a baby (are in the postpartum state) may uncommonly develop postpartum psychosis. Also, mood disorders like major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder can become severe enough to result in psychotic symptoms like hallucinating or having delusions, also called psychotic features.

The percentage of people who suffer from any psychotic symptom at any one time (prevalence) varies greatly from country to country: as little as 0.66% in Vietnam to 45.84% in Nepal. While the figure of one out of 100 people who qualify for the diagnosis of schizophrenia may sound low, that translates into about 3 million people in the United States alone who have schizophrenia. The first time a person has psychotic symptoms is usually between the ages of 18 and 24 years; related, less severe (prodromal) symptoms often start during the teenage years. Postpartum psychosis occurs in one or two out of 1,000 births but increases greatly, up to one in seven mothers, in women who had postpartum psychosis in the past. Men are thought to develop psychotic disorders more often and at younger ages than women.