Chapter 8 - Does Psychosis of Epilepsy Differ from Primary Psychotic Disorders?

Abstract

Psychosis in epilepsy is nothing but a sign of a damaged strategic portion of the cortex (equal to the temporal lobe in Slater's context), impairment of which prepares brain milieu predisposed to psychosis. With regard to the wide-ranging clinical manifestations of epileptic psychoses and primary psychotic disorders to determine which should be compared, this chapter discusses the concept that is psychosis of epilepsy different from primary psychotic disorders. A primary psychotic disorder is one of the most widely used criteria of psychiatric diagnosis. DSM-IV subdivides primary psychotic disorders mainly into five subcategories: nuclear schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder (SFD), brief psychotic disorder (BPD), delusional disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. In DSM-IV, the pivotal reference point on which the first three psychotic disorders are divided is time criterion. On the other hand, the determinant features of the last two categories are the contents of the psychotic experience.