Introduction: Psychiatric disorders are frequently reported in intensive care units (ICU). The occurrence of an acute psychotic decompensation in a patient opens the debate with several hypotheses.
Case report: A primary episode of acute psychotic decompensation occurred in a 27 year-old woman during hospitalisation in an intensive care unit due to attempted suicide following ingestion of propanolol and bronazepam.
Discussion: Factors of stress can contribute to the onset of acute psychotic decompensation. The influence of pharmacological products can also explain the latter because of the iatrogenics of molecules ingested purposefully, but also the eventual responsibility of the treatments used in resuscitation. According to one hypothesis, a certain quantity of dopamine in this patient could have passed into the central nervous system that benefited from an alteration in the permeability of the haematoencephalic barrier secondary to severe hypoperfusion.