AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS: A POTENTIALLY TREATABLE CAUSE OF ACUTE PSYCHOSIS

Autoimmune encephalitis is a difficult clinical diagnosis due to predominance of psychiatric symptoms and the similarities in the clinical, imaging and laboratory findings of many forms of encephalitis especially infective encephalitis. Patients generally develop impaired memory and cognition over a period of days or weeks. There may be clues to specific causes on history or physical examination, but often these specific signs are absent. A broad approach to testing for infectious diseases and various neuronal autoantibodies can lead to the correct diagnosis. Here we present the case study of a 22 year-old male patient who presented with symptoms of psychosis following his father illness but upon investigations was diagnosed to be a case of autoimmune encephalitis.