Toward a Stable Diagnosis of Substance-Induced Psychosis

A new study in The British Journal of Psychiatry analyzed the blurred distinction between substance-induced psychosis and a primary psychotic disorder with comorbid substance use. Researchers conducted a 1-year follow-up study of 319 psychiatric emergency department admissions who were diagnosed with early-phase psychoses and comorbid substance use. 25% of those with a baseline DSM-IV diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis had a follow-up diagnosis of primary psychosis. More importantly, these patients had greater family history of psychosis and poorer premorbid functioning than patients diagnosed with substance-induced psychosis, suggesting that further study of substance-induced psychosis should include neuroscientific as well as behavioral approaches. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/190/2/105

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