psychosis

[pappi]

My 18 yrs old son started college this summer,we live in NJ and went to NYU,staying there for 3 nights only,commuting from home for 2 days.For the last 4 to 5 weeks he says he is living in a dream like situation,everything seems like a movie.sometimes he cannot recognize his own parents,but he knows the reality and he is very upset about what's going on with him,he says when he presenting something,it seems he is not himself,someone else talking,but he has all the control,means he can control his talk,a psychiatrist is involved,who thinks,it's too early to make a diagnosis,it could be acute anxiety or something more serious,we can start him on very low dose of resperidone or we can wait.Now he is commuting from home and his father going with him on train and he is doing well in his studies,he scores are still 95 to 100%,we started him on fish oil,niacin and Mvitamins,What could be the diagnosis and prognosis?

[pappi]

Thanks for your reassurance,that's what I need at this time,my son is better than before,yesterday he was able to recognize his parents 100%,but today he woke up with little confusion,he can recognize 80% but after sometime he felt better,hopefully with time he is going to recover.The question is,shall I start him on resperidone low dose or not,since he is improving by himself,if I start medicine I wouldn't know how much improvement is spontaneous.Please let me know if you have any new ideas.
Thanks again.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hi,

I think I will agree with the psychiatrist and to me too, it seems more like an acute anxiety disorder that can be precipitated whenever one is thrown in a new environment that is completely strange. I cannot think of anything serious. I hope he should be okay over the period. Since, his insight (insight is the ability to recognize one's own mental illness) is intact I will not call it a psychosis and it seems like only a neurotic disorder.

I hope that helped. Please do keep me posted.

Kind Regards.