Caffeinism

Caffeinism has been defined as the poisoning resulting from excessive intake of caffeine, whether via coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, over-the-counter medications, or other caffeine-containing products. Its symptoms are both physiological and psychological. The amount of caffeine needed to generate caffeinism depends on individual sensitivity, but most people who take even fairly large doses of caffeine do not develop symptoms of caffeinism.

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Caffeinism may induce anxiety and even psychosis in some severe cases. This may sometimes lead to misdiagnoses of conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other conditions identified with psychosis. However, many cases of caffeine-induced psychosis occur in individuals with those mental illnesses, who may already be prone to such episodes (Hughes et al 1998).

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Shannon et al (1998) point out that: "Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses... The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine."

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Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) states: "The 4 caffeine-induced psychiatric disorders include caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, caffeine-induced sleep disorder, and caffeine-related disorder not otherwise specified (NOS)."

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Poisoning: For biological toxicity, see toxin and poison.For use of the term in reference to catalysts, see there;For use of the term in reference to fissionable material, see nuclear reactor;...

Caffeine: Caffeine, also known as trimethylxanthine, coffeine, theine, mateine, guaranine, methyltheobromine and 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, is a xanthine alkaloid found naturally in such foods as coffee beans, tea, kola nuts, Yerba mate, guarana berries, and (in small amounts) cacao beans. For the plant, caffei...

Coffee: Coffee as a drink, usually served hot, is prepared from the roasted seeds (beans) of the coffee plant. Due to its popularity, coffee is, in monetary terms, the second largest traded commodity in the world (after oil). It is one of mankind's chief sources of the stimulant caffeine. Because of this, c...