Acute psychoses: a proposed diagnosis for ICD-11 and DSM-V.

This paper concerns the diagnostic classification of nonaffective acute remitting psychosis (NARP), which we also term acute brief psychosis. We argue that NARP can be delineated from both schizophrenia and the affective psychoses and considered as a single diagnosis. As indicated by the term NARP, four criteria would be central to the diagnosis: 1. nonaffective, 2. acute onset (over less than two weeks), 3. recovery within a brief duration (less than six months), and 4. psychosis broadly defined. We review the rationale and the empirical evidence for this proposed classification.

Course and outcome of acute non-organic psychotic states in India.

This paper presents an overview of the diagnoses and short-term course of acute psychotic illnesses--affective as well as nonaffective--in a developing country setting. In the Chandigarh Acute Psychosis Study (CAPS) in Northern India, a cohort of 91 cases of acute psychotic illness were assessed for symptoms, diagnosis, and course ratings at multiple intervals over a 12 month period; cases were drawn from a rural and an urban clinic, permitting comparison of patients in these two settings. Non-affective (mainly schizophrenic) patients were found to be the predominant group (51%), followed by manic (26%), and depressive (19%) patients. Overall the acute psychoses had an excellent short-term course and outcome, a result which held across all diagnostic groups and both the rural and urban setting. Rural and urban patients were similar in diagnostic distribution and course of illness. Investigations of such cases can expand our view of the possible manifestations and course of psychotic disorders, and may have implications for diagnosis.