Challenges in conceptualizing psychotic mood disorders.

Psychotic mood disorders represent a complex group of syndromes in which depression and/or mania are accompanied by delusions, hallucinations, or both. The presence of psychotic features has a profound influence on the course and treatment response of mood disorders, and psychotic disorders in turn are influenced by coexisting dysregulation of mood. Psychosis and mood, along with other features such as severity, a high rate of recurrence, psychomotor changes, dissociation, and mental states reflecting a history of trauma, appear to interact to alter each other's expression. The treatment of psychotic mood disorders, regardless of coexisting conditions, requires pharmacotherapy--usually a combination of an antipsychotic drug and a medication for mood--or electroconvulsive therapy. The results of treatment are usually positive.