Post-traumatic psychosis among Cambodian refugees

Of 100 consecutive Cambodian patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), seven had severe persistent psychotic symptoms. Those with psychosis did not differ demographically or in severity of trauma from those without psychosis. The behavior of these seven patients was disruptive to their families; all required hospitalizations and were difficult to treat. This report as well as other clinical literature indicate that psychosis, usually associated with PTSD, is an infrequent but definite occurrence after massive psychological trauma.