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Caffeine And Delusions

Sep 10, 2011 | By Rebecca Bragg
Caffeine And Delusions
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Excessive caffeine can trigger symptoms that overlap with several psychiatric disorders, according to a study published in the 2005 "Advances in Psychiatric Treatment." Caffeine, a mildly addictive mood-altering drug, occurs naturally in coffee, tea and chocolate, but is added to many brands of soda and energy drinks. In moderation, caffeine is generally regarded as safe, but scientific evidence that overdoses can produce delusions, hallucinations, and states of mind easily mistaken for major mental illness has been mounting.

A Compelling Case History

A 47-year-old farmer who drank about a gallon of coffee a day was the subject of a revealing study published in the March 2009 "CNS Spectrums." Seven years earlier, when he began overindulging with about 36 cups a day, he became convinced of the existence of a plot to drive him off his farm and steal his land, a delusion that took over his life so much that he neglected work and was forced to declare bankruptcy. After he reduced his caffeine intake to one or two cups of coffee a day, he experienced total remission of his paranoid delusion and no longer needed anti-psychotic medication. The delusion returned whenever he overindulged in coffee but disappeared when he cut back, his doctors wrote.

Legal Precedent

One morning in December 2009, Daniel Noble, 31, showed up at his local Starbucks in his pajamas, downed two cups of his favorite brew and drove erratically away, hitting and seriously injuring two young men with his car. As ABC News reported the story, Washington state police charged Noble with two counts each of vehicular assault and hit-and-run, but his lawyer argued that Noble had been in the grip of "caffeine-induced psychosis" and was therefore not responsible for his actions by reason of temporary insanity. The judge agreed and dropped all charges. The next year in Kentucky, CBS News reported that the attorney for Woody Will Smith, 33, who had strangled his wife, floated the same defense, but the jury didn't buy it. Smith was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Hallucinations

A survey conducted at Durham University in England found that students with the highest caffeine intake were more likely to report "seeing things that were not there, hearing voices and sensing the presence of dead people." Published in the January 2009 edition of "Personality and Individual Differences," the study theorized that the increased likelihood of auditory and visual hallucinations could be attributable to caffeine's ability to raise levels of cortisol, a stress hormone associated with a tendency to hallucinate.

Regulatory Challenges

Throughout the course of a day, the cumulative effect of various caffeinated drinks can easily put people at risk of overdose, concludes a study published in March 2011 "Pediatrics" -- and almost half the 5,448 cases reported in 2007 involve children and adolescents. Energy drinks present a regulatory problem for the Food and Drug Administration because some are classified as foods and others as dietary supplements, meaning that similar products fall under different regulatory systems. For example, the FDA sets a limit on the amount of caffeine in soda, designated a food, but dietary supplements are not as closely scrutinized for safety.

References

Article reviewed by Jenna Marie Last updated on: Sep 10, 2011

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