[Page 573]Brief psychotic disorder is a time-limited psychosis characterized by a sudden onset of psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, catatonic behavior, suicidality, or alterations of consciousness. The symptoms of brief psychotic disorder may show variability, whereas positive symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions) are usually predominant. By definition, brief psychotic disorder lasts for less than 1 month (whereas the minimum is 1 day), after which most people recover fully. Some people, however, may have recurrent episodes of psychotic symptoms.

The mean time from first psychotic symptom to full symptomatic picture is 3.9 days (SD = 3.9). The mean duration of psychotic period is 17.5 days (SD = 13.3) and the mean duration of hospital stay is 33.7 (SD = 24.0). The prepsychotic alterations ...