An international perspective and review of cocaine-induced psychosis: A call to action

Cocaine use can induce transient psychotic symptoms that include suspiciousness, paranoia, hallucinations, and other cocaine-related behaviors. In this commentary, the authors provide an international perspective while reviewing the recent advances in epidemiology, clinical features, and risk factors related to cocaine-induced psychosis exhibited by patients with cocaine use disorders. In some settings, the occurrence of cocaine-induced psychosis has been shown to be as high as 86.5%. Many risk factors have been linked with cocaine-induced psychosis, including the quantity of cocaine consumed, lifetime amount of cocaine use, onset of cocaine dependence, years of use, routes of administration, other substance use disorder comorbidity, weight, gender, comorbidity with other medical and mental health disorders, genetics, and pharmacological interactions. Research has shown that the evaluation of cocaine-induced psychosis in patients with cocaine use is clinically relevant, especially in those patients who consume high amounts of cocaine, have a cannabis dependence history, have antisocial personality disorder, use administration routes other than intranasal, or exhibit attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity. Currently, the literature lacks information regarding the evolution of cocaine dependence or cocaine-dependent patients risk for developing schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. Furthermore, clinicians still do not have an evidence-based pharmacological approach to management of cocaine dependence available to them. Additional research is also needed regarding risk factors such as neurobiological markers and personality traits. Finally, we recommend the development of an integrative model including all of the risk factors and protective factors for cocaine-induced psychosis. © 2014 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.