Brief psychotic disorder
period of psychosis whose duration is generally shorter, is not always non-recurring, but can be, and is not caused by another condition
Brief psychotic disorder is a psychotic condition involving the sudden onset of at least one psychotic symptom (such as disorganized thought/speech, delusions, hallucinations, or grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior) lasting 1 day to 1 month, often accompanied by emotional turmoil. Remission of all symptoms is complete with patients returning to the previous level of functioning. It may follow a period of extreme stress including the loss of a loved one. Most patients with this condition under DSM-5 would be classified as having acute and transient psychotic disorders under ICD-10. Prior to DSM-IV, this condition was called "brief reactive psychosis." This condition may or may not be recurrent, and it should not be caused by another condition.
The term bouffée délirante describes an acute non-affective and non-schizophrenic psychotic disorder, which is largely similar to DSM-III-R and DSM-IV brief psychotic and schizophreniform disorders.
Presentation
Brief psychotic disorder is characterized by a sudden onset of psychotic symptoms, which may include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, or catatonic behavior.
Symptoms generally last at least a day, but not more than a month, and there is an eventual return to full baseline functioning. Brief psychotic disorder may occur in response to a significant stressor in one's life, or in other situations where a stressor is not apparent, including in the weeks following giving birth.
In diagnosis, a careful distinction is considered for culturally appropriate behaviors, such as religious beliefs and activities.
The public source identifies “Brief psychotic disorder” as period of psychosis whose duration is generally shorter, is not always non-recurring, but can be, and is not caused by another condition. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Brief, psychotic and disorder.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2787727. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Brief psychotic disorder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.