Prognosis

The prognosis for brief psychotic disorder, by definition, is a complete remission of all psychotic symptoms within 1 month of the first sign of disturbance. Symptoms returning after 1 month should be reassessed and diagnosed. A meta-analysis of 82 independent studies comprising 11,133 patients to assess the risk of psychotic recurrence between brief psychotic disorder (BPD), acute and transient psychotic disorder (ATPD), brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms (BLIPS), and brief intermittent psychotic symptoms (BIPS) revealed no prognostic differences between these groups. Long-term analysis revealed that the risk of psychotic recurrence was lower for BPD, ATPD, BLIPS, and BIPS than for first-episode psychosis at 24 months and at 36 or more months of follow-up.[40]

Another meta-analysis by the same research group also showed that most patients with BPD and ATPD who experience a recurrence of psychotic symptoms retained their initial diagnosis at 4.5 years follow-up, while 44% shifted to other diagnoses.[8]​[41]​​​ Of these, 21% were re-diagnosed with schizophrenia, 2% with schizoaffective disorder, 2% with schizophreniform disorder, and 12% with affective spectrum psychoses.[8]​[41]​​

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