The British Journal of Psychiatry 146: 127-131 (1985)
© 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Water intoxication in psychiatric patients
S Singh, MH Padi, H Bullard and H Freeman
Compulsive water drinking is associated with a broad spectrum of
psychopathology, from mild neurosis to psychosis. Since the normal kidney
is capable of excreting large volumes of fluid rapidly, water intoxication
requires both a pathological basis and a psychiatric explanation of why so
much water is being taken. Excessive water consumption can be dangerous, so
that the fluid intake of patients with a history of polyuria together with
a low urinary specific gravity should be closely observed. Four cases of
water intoxication resulting from psychogenic polydipsia are described,
three of them in chronic schizophrenics, where inappropriate ADH secretion
might represent part of the psychosis.
