Stimulant psychosis | |
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Other names | Stimulant-induced psychotic disorder[1] |
Specialty | Psychiatry, addiction psychiatry |
Stimulant psychosis is a mental disorder characterized by psychotic symptoms (such as hallucinations, paranoid ideation, delusions, disorganized thinking, grossly disorganized behaviour). It involves and typically occurs following an overdose or several day binge on psychostimulants,[1] though one study reported occurrences at regularly prescribed doses in approximately 0.1% of individuals within the first several weeks after starting amphetamine or methylphenidate therapy.[2][3][4] Methamphetamine psychosis, or long-term effects of stimulant use in the brain (at the molecular level), depend upon genetics and may persist for some time.[5]
The most common causative agents are substituted amphetamines, including substituted cathinones, as well as certain dopamine reuptake inhibitors such as cocaine and phenidates.
Treatment-emergent psychotic or manic symptoms, e.g. hallucinations, delusional thinking, or mania in children and adolescents without prior history of psychotic illness or mania can be caused by stimulants at usual doses. ... In a pooled analysis of multiple short-term, placebo controlled studies, such symptoms occurred in about 0.1% (4 patients with events out of 3482 exposed to methylphenidate or amphetamine for several weeks at usual doses) of stimulant-treated patients compared to 0 in placebo-treated patients.