Follow-up study of hysterical psychosis, reactive/psychogenic psychosis, and schizophrenia

The present study was undertaken to learn more about the longer-term course of nonaffective functional psychoses, including hysterical psychosis. A gr oup of 48 female patients diagnosed with hysterical psychosis, nonhysterica l reactive/psychogenic psychosis, and schizophrenia at their first admissio n were reassessed after an average follow-up period of 11.6 years. Seventy- five percent were receiving outpatient treatment; less than half were on ne uroleptics, and only 35% were rehospitalized. The patients suffered from a few, mostly unspecific, symptoms and were relatively well adjusted socially . No differences were found between original diagnostic categories regardin g all variables studied. Hysterical psychosis does not appear to be a speci al clinical entity, distinguishable from other reactive/psychogenic psychos es in the short term and from other nonaffective functional psychoses in th e longer term. The symptomatology and clinical presentation of nonaffective functional psychoses at first admission do not allow any prognostic longer -term forecast, and the initial differences between individual psychoses te nd to disappear over time. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.