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Water Intoxication in Psychiatric Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Satnam Singh ,
Madhu H. Padi ,
Henrietta Bullard  and
Hugh Freeman
Satnam Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, South Wales, CF4 4XW
Henrietta Bullard
Affiliation:
The Central Hospital, Near Warwick, CV35 7EE
Hugh Freeman
Affiliation:
Salford Health Authority, Hope Hospital, Salford, M6 8HD
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Summary

Compulsive water drinking is associated with a broad spectrum of psychopathology, from mild neurosis to psychosis. Since the normal kidney is capable of excreting large volumes of fluid rapidly, water intoxication requires both a pathological basis and a psychiatric explanation of why so much water is being taken. Excessive water consumption can be dangerous, so that the fluid intake of patients with a history of polyuria together with a low urinary specific gravity should be closely observed. Four cases of water intoxication resulting from psychogenic polydipsia are described, three of them in chronic schizophrenics, where inappropriate ADH secretion might represent part of the psychosis.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 146 , Issue 2 , February 1985 , pp. 127 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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