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Psychosis: Brains
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Psychosis can be a feature of several diseases, often when the brain or nervous system is directly affected. However, the fact that psychosis can occasionally arise in parallel with a number of ailments (including diseases such as flu or mumps for example) suggests that a variety of nervous system stressors can lead to a psychotic reaction. Psychosis arising from non-psychiatric conditions is sometimes known as 'secondary psychosis'. The mechanisms by which this happens are still not clear, but the non-specificity of psychosis has led Tsuang and colleagues to argue that "psychosis is the 'fever' of mental illness—a serious but nonspecific indicator"12.
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More recently, a 2003 study investigating structural changes in the brains of people with psychosis showed there was significant grey matter reduction in the cortex of people before and after they became psychotic. Findings such as these have led to debate about whether psychosis is itself neurotoxic and whether potentially damaging changes to the brain are related to the length of psychotic episode. Recent research has suggested that this is not the case although further investigation is still ongoing.
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The exact cause of psychosis is not known. It may be caused by something physical. This is called organic psychosis. Organic psychosis can be brought on by brain tumors, epilepsy, head injuries, a severe lack of sleep, or infections such as meningitis. Too much or too little of certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters may lead to psychosis.
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Interictal psychosis can occur at any time, with no relationship to the timing of seizures. It is usually seen in people with partial epilepsy and sometimes indicates the presence of small tumors in the brain. If the seizure focus is localized to a single area, effective epilepsy surgery may be possible. Some other people with interictal psychosis have widespread brain abnormalities.
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