Acute dystonic reactions complicated by psychotic phenomena.

Author(s): Thornton A, McKenna PJ

Affiliation(s): Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge.

Publication date & source: 1994-01, Br J Psychiatry., 164(1):115-8.

Publication type: Case Reports

Four schizophrenic patients are reported in whom the acute development of dystonic muscle spasms, usually involving gaze deviation, was accompanied by the exacerbation or appearance of psychotic symptoms. In all cases the relationship between the neurological and psychiatric phenomena was close, and sometimes the presentation was bizarre or dramatic. The similarity of these states to the complex neuropsychiatric disturbances seen in post-encephalitic Parkinsonism is emphasised.