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What is brief psychotic disorder?

Brief psychotic disorder is a psychotic disorder characterized by a break in reality lasting at least 1 day but least than 1 month.

See also: schizophreniform disorder and schizophrenia.

What does brief psychotic disorder look like?

Differential Diagnosis

  • Hypothyroidism, Cushing disease
  • Tay-Sachs, Niemann-Pick
  • Lupus, Hashimoto encephalopathy
  • Neurosyphilis, HIV infection
  • Temporal lobe epilepsy
  • Space occupying lesions
  • Strokes, traumatic brain injury
  • Multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease
  • Nutritional deficiencies

How is brief psychotic disorder treated?

See treatment for schizophrenia.

Nursing Management

See nursing management for schizophrenia.


[1] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA.

[2] Boyd, M. A. (2019). Psychiatric & mental health nursing for Canadian practice. Wolters Kluwer.

[3] Townsend, M. C. (2015). Psychiatric mental health nursing. F.A. Davis.