Diagnostic Complexity in Pediatric Autoimmune Encephalitis Presenting as Acute Psychosis: A Case Report

Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is a neuroimmune disorder that may present in children and adolescents with predominantly psychiatric symptoms, leading to significant diagnostic challenges and overlap with primary psychiatric disorders. We describe a 13-year-old male with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who presented with abrupt-onset insomnia, paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, fluctuating confusion, and disorganized behavior following a febrile viral-like illness. Initial emergency department evaluation, including metabolic studies and neuroimaging, was unrevealing, and symptoms were initially attributed to cannabis-induced psychosis, psychosocial stressors, or emerging primary psychiatric illness. — Excerpt from Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Read More