title: Transient psychosis due to caregiver burden in a patient caring for severely demented spouses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Caring for demented people has been associated with negative effect on caregiver health. One or more severe stress factors can precipitate brief reactive psychosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 59-year-old Caucasian married woman with no prior psychosis has been caring for her severely demented husband for more than 3 years. She was treated for anxiety disorder and reaction to severe stress in our clinic for 1 year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five days after husband's nursing home placement our patient developed the abnormal thought, that someone might tell her neighbours of her laziness and failures. She believed that she was under constant surveillance. These ideas grew rapidly into delusions and hallucinations.  She was diagnosed as having transient psychosis with associated acute stress and was treated with risperidone. The psychosis lasted for two months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Careful differential diagnosis is necessary in the cases of transient psychosis. Psychotic symptoms in overloaded individuals may be more common than was previously thought.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Martina.Zverova@vfn.cz
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zverova
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D018967:Risperidone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018967:Risperidone