Six months follow-up of patients with methamphetamine psychosis.
BACKGROUND
It has been nearly 50 years since the psychotic state caused by amphetamine was first reported. However, the prognosis of methamphetamine (MAP) psychosis and its relationship with chronic schizophrenia are still vague. Some authors preferred MAP psychosis model of schizophrenia, while other studies found difference between the two groups of patients in the aspects of negative symptoms.


METHODS
In this study we followed 21 psychiatric inpatients with diagnosis of MAP psychosis. Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia (SADS), scale for assessment of negative symptoms (SANS) and global assessment scale (GAS) were used for evaluation of these patients during admission and six months after discharge.


RESULTS
Seventeen patients were interviewed and eight of them confessed reuse of MAP. The follow-up examinations found decreased total scores of delusion and hallucination in SADS and increased GAS scores. The SANS scores of the MAP psychotic patients in this study were lower than moderate level. No significant change could be found for most SANS subcategory scores except some items.


CONCLUSIONS
Most MAP psychotic patients followed in this study improved much in six months. The results of the SANS evaluation and the clinical course for six months indicated that the MAP psychosis is a psychotic disorder different from chronic schizophrenia.
Yeh
H S
HS
Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Sec. 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan. hsyeh@vghtpe.gov.tw
Lee
Y C
YC
Sun
H J
HJ
Wan
S R
SR
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D011605:Psychoses, Substance-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013997:Time Factors
D008694:Methamphetamine