AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL-PSYCHOSIS AND URINARY-INCONTINENCE

Urinary incontinence commonly occurs in the setting of organic brain d amage. However a literature search found no previous reports of an ass ociation between urinary incontinence and functional psychosis. Three cases are described in which patients with organic predisposing factor s for the development of urinary incontinence showed an association be tween the degree of incontinence and the severity of their mental illn ess. It is suggested that the underlying psychosis may have contribute d to the worsening of urinary incontinence, perhaps through non-specif ic factors such as poor attention, memory and psychotic symptoms. An a ssociation between functional psychosis and urinary incontinence has n ot been previously reported, and thus merits further investigation.