Clinical features of inpatients with methamphetamine-induced psychosis

Abstract

Background: An epidemic of methamphetamine use has begun in Iran in recent years and psychiatric emergency services are overloaded with patients with methamphetamine-induced psychosis (MIP).

Aims: To define the clinical features of inpatients with MIP in a psychiatric hospital.

Method: The files of all MIP patients admitted to Iran Psychiatric Hospital located in Tehran from April 2008 to April 2010 were assessed. Data related to psychotic episode, substance use, previous psychiatric history and demographic data of 111 MIP patients were extracted and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods.

Results: The most prevalent psychotic symptoms were persecutory delusion (82%), auditory hallucination (70.3%), reference delusion (57.7%), visual hallucination (44.1%), grandiosity delusion (39.6%) and jealousy delusion (26.1%). The mean duration of admission and psychotic episode was 21.43 and 17.37 days, respectively. In seven cases (8.75%), symptoms continued for more than one month.

Conclusion: Frequency of psychotic symptoms in this study is relatively similar to previous studies. However, some clinical determinants such as latency of psychosis from first use and the course of psychosis are more similar to the first epidemic of methamphetamine in Japan than to more recent epidemics; which could be due to the short history of methamphetamine use in Iran.

Keywords:

• methamphetamine
• psychotic disorders
• inpatients

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Mohammad Ghadiri, director of the Iran Psychiatric Hospital and the staff who helped in performing the study. The study was performed as the thesis of Bahareh Fasihpour.

Declaration of Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest.