Danica Russell said she feels her husband’s “irrational” behavior stemmed from exhaustion and dehydration, not drugs or alcohol.

Symptoms and Causes of Brief Reactive Disorder

The National Institutes of Health says “brief reactive psychosis” can cause a variety of symptoms, including speaking strangely, hallucinating, being delusional and having disorganized behavior.

Brief reactive psychosis is not a result of drugs or alcohol, the NIH says.

Alan Hilfer, chief psychologist at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City, told ABC News:

“Dehydration can absolutely cause all the signs of mental confusion he seemed to be experiencing”, adding that severe dehydration would most likely be brought on by illness, but could also result from poor self-care. Starvation, can also cause acute psychosis. “A bad reaction to a medication, possible a prescription sleep aide, might also be to blame,” he said

Is Brief Reactive Psychosis A Diagnosis for Rich Celebrities?

I think if anyone else acted like Jason, they would have been immediately labeled with schizophrenia.

Considering the many controversial issues in mental health care, treatment, and advocacy, creating an awareness of underlying medical conditions and substances that can induce mania/psychosis and be labeled as bipolar disorder/schizophrenia needs to be part of an advocacy agenda.

Medical Causes of Psychosis

There are many medical conditions that can induce psychosis. The British Medical Journal has a very good guideline for Best Practice Assessment of Psychosis. This seems like it should be the first consideration as some medical conditions that can induce psychosis are fatal (eg. CJ Disease), while others are easily resolved (eg. routine use of over-the-counter cold medicine can induce psychosis)

Psychosis Due to a Medical Condition involves a surprisingly large number of different medical conditions, some of which include: brain tumors, cerebrovascular disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Creitzfeld-Jakob disease, anti-NMDAR Encephalitis, herpes zoster-associated encephalitis, head trauma, infections such as neurosyphilis, epilepsy, auditory or visual nerve injury or impairment, deafness, migraine, endocrine disturbances, metabolic disturbances, vitamin B12 deficiency, a decrease in blood gases such as oxygen or carbon dioxide, or imbalances in blood sugar levels, and autoimmune disorders with central nervous system involvement such as systemic lupus erythematosus have also been known to cause psychosis.

A substance-induced psychotic disorder, by definition, is directly caused by the effects of drugs including alcohol, medications, and toxins. Psychotic symptoms can result from intoxication on alcohol, amphetamines (and related substances), cannabis (marijuana), cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, phencyclidine (PCP) and related substances, sedatives, hypnotics, anxiolytics, and other or unknown substances. Psychotic symptoms can also result from withdrawal from alcohol, sedatives, hypnotics, anxiolytics, and other or unknown substances.

Some medications that may induce psychotic symptoms include anesthetics and analgesics, anticholinergic agents, anti-convulsants, antihistamines, anti-hypertensive and cardiovascular medications, antimicrobial medications, anti-parkinsonian medications, chemotherapeutic agents, corticosteroids, gastrointestinal medications, muscle relaxants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, other over-the-counter medications, antidepressant medications, and Disulfiram . Toxins that may induce psychotic symptoms include anticholinesterase, organo-phosphate insecticides, nerve gases, heavy metals, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and volatile substances (such as fuel or paint).

If I had to state a short summary of my perspective I would say: The psychiatrization and medicalization of psychosocial situations, personal choices, behavior challenges and learning disabilities, poor parenting skills, spirituality, trauma, injuries and toxic exposure has been monopolized by the pharmaceutical industry because of government’s failure to protect consumer rights.

Is All Psychosis Brief And Reactive?

Corinna West, founder of Wellness Wordworks, asks if all psychoses are “brief reactive psychoses” until people are told they’ll bee sick forever and put on meds that increase the predisposition to further illness.

BINGO! Yes, Look at the long list of medical conditions and substances that can induce psychosis/mania and be LABELED as bipolar/schizophrenia…these are listed in the DSM.  The problem is medical and mental health professionals are using a rubber-stamp approach and labeling everyone bp/schizophrenic….how many other people just have dehydration like Jason Russell, or perhaps at one point in thier life were exposed to lead/mercury or some other toxin

Best Practices for Reactive Psychosis Assessment

Recommended Medical Website List

Is all psychosis “brief reactive psychosis?”