Psychotic disorder due to another medical condition is characterized by hallucinations or delusions that are caused by another medical disorder.
Psychosis refers to symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and bizarre and inappropriate motor behavior that indicate loss of contact with reality.
This diagnosis applies when psychosis is the result of a medical condition rather than a mental disorder such as schizophrenia. For example, people with temporal lobe epilepsy sometimes hallucinate that they are smelling things that are not present.
Other medical disorders that may cause psychosis include brain tumors and infections, stroke, migraine, and some hormone disorders. However, people who have severe confusion (delirium) from a severe medical illness or drug withdrawal are not considered to have psychotic disorder due to a medical condition.
Treating the medical condition often reduces the severity of psychotic symptoms, but some people also need specific treatment for the psychotic symptoms.
