Physical Illness and Psychosis

Summary One hundred psychotic patients referred to a consultation service in a general hospital were compared with 50 psychotic patients without physical illness in a psychiatric unit. Background, mental and cognitive state were evaluated. In addition to providing a list of likely causes of cerebral dysfunction in such a sample, the study revealed an increased incidence of prior depression in those with cerebral dysfunction, and identified a group where psychosocial factors appeared more significant than cerebral dysfunction in determining the psychosis. The various ways in which a psychosis can be associated with a physical condition, and the various forms that it can take even when cerebral dysfunction is present, are discussed.