@article{ref1,
title="Reactive psychoses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Clinical perspectives from a case series",
journal="Revista de psiquiatría y salud mental (English edition)",
year="2020",
author="Valdés-Florido, María José and López-Díaz, Álvaro and Palermo-Zeballos, Fernanda Jazmín and Martínez-Molina, Iván and Martín-Gil, Victoria Eugenia and Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto and Ruiz-Veguilla, Miguel",
volume="13",
number="2",
pages="90-94",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: The world is currently undergoing an extremely stressful scenario due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unexpected and dramatic situation could increase the incidence of mental health problems, among them, psychotic disorders. The aim of this paper was to describe a case series of brief reactive psychosis due to the psychological distress from the current coronavirus pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We report on a case series including all the patients with reactive psychoses in the context of the COVID-19 crisis who were admitted to the Virgen del Rocío and Virgen Macarena University Hospitals (Seville, Spain) during the first two weeks of compulsory nationwide quarantine. RESULTS: In that short period, four patients met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for a brief reactive psychotic disorder. All of the episodes were directly triggered by stress derived from the COVID-19 pandemic and half of the patients presented severe suicidal behavior at admission. CONCLUSIONS: We may now be witnessing an increasing number of brief reactive psychotic disorders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This type of psychosis has a high risk of suicidal behavior and, although short-lived, has a high rate of psychotic recurrence and low diagnostic stability over time. Therefore, we advocate close monitoring in both the acute phase and long-term follow-up of these patients.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2173-5050",
doi="10.1016/j.rpsm.2020.04.009",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rpsm.2020.04.009"
}