Symptomatic psychoses are psychotic states that begin for some somatic diseases. This group of diseases includes infectious and noninfectious ones, intoxication, endocrinopathies, and vascular pathology. As a rule, acute symptomatic psychoses begin with symptoms of the clouded state of consciousness; the protracted forms usually have clinical manifestations of psychopathic, depressive-paranoid, hallucinatory-paranoid states, as well as stable psychoorganic syndrome. Initial and final stages of symptomatic psychoses are characterised by asthenia.
Certain somatic diseases and intoxications generate various non-specific types of reactions. The structure of symptomatic psychosis also depends on the intensity and duration of hazard exposure. Age is of great importance: in infancy, reaction to hazards is limited to the convulsive syndrome; in childhood, epileptiform excitement develops most often; in maturity, a person can have almost all types of exogenous and endoform reactions, and delirious pictures are inherent in a senile age. Specialities of mental disorders to a certain extent, depend on the somatic suffering that has caused psychosis.
CLASSIFICATION
There are various clinical types of symptomatic psychoses.
► Acute symptomatic psychoses with clouded state of consciousness (obnubilation, delirium, amentia, epileptiform and oniric states, acute verbal hallucinosis).
► Protracted symptomatic psychoses are transient Wiek's syndromes (depressive, depressive-delusional, hallucinatory-paranoid states, apathetic stupor, manias, pseudoparalytic conditions, transient Korsakoff's psychosis, and confabulosis).
► Organic psychosyndrome begins due to prolonged hazard influence on a brain.
In most cases, acute symptomatic psychoses go completely. After somatic diseases with protracted psychoses, phenomena of asthenia or personality changes of an organic type can develop.