title: Psychosocial short stature with psychosis: a case report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to report and describe a case of psychosocial short stature in an adolescent girl with psychotic features. Psychosocial short stature is a rare condition in which emotional stress or deprivation in childhood profoundly reduces growth, leading to persistent short stature. This disorder is variably known as psychosocial dwarfism, hyperphagic short stature or maternal deprivation dwarfism. In the literature, psychosocial short stature has not been associated previously with psychosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We formulate that our patient's short stature, developmental regression and psychotic features were culminations of insecure mother-child attachment, personal traumatic experiences, immigrant status, high family expressed emotions and social isolation. Neuropsychiatric influences were critically regarded due to our patient's fluctuations in behaviour and affect, in the setting of cortical volume loss on brain MRI. Diagnostic hypotheses included childhood disintegrative disorder or childhood-onset schizophrenia. The management plan involved inpatient family psychoeducation, a pharmacological trial with an atypical antipsychotic and community mental health service follow-up for family therapy and psychotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Year 5 student Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia naomi.wattchow@student.adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wattchow
authors.affiliation: Consultant psychiatrist, Boylan Inpatient Services, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Hsu-En
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Consultant psychiatrist, Hindmarsh, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brock
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D004392:Dwarfism / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D059906:Neuroimaging; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: childhood disintegrative disorder; childhood-onset schizophrenia; post-traumatic stress disorder; psychosis; psychosocial short stature