The British Journal of Psychiatry 136: 109-119 (1980)
© 1980 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Physical illness and psychosis
J Cutting
One hundred psychotic patients referred to a consultation service in a
general hospital were compared with 50 psychotic patients without physical
illness in a psychiatric unit. Background, mental and cognitive state were
evaluated. In addition to providing a list of likely causes of cerebral
dysfunction in such a sample, the study revealed an increased incidence of
prior depression in those with cerebral dysfunction, and identified a group
where psychosocial factors appeared more significant than cerebral
dysfunction in determining the psychosis. The various ways in which a
psychosis can be associated with a physical condition, and the various
forms that it can take even when cerebral dysfunction is present, are
discussed.