Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell, the creator of the viral "Kony 2012" video who was taken to a medical facility after allegedly running around naked in public (and, according to some reports, masturbating) in San Diego last week, has been preliminarily diagnosed with "brief reactive psychosis," according to news reports.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Russell, 33, is undergoing medical treatment.
According to Russell's family's statement, published on Gawker, brief reactive psychosis is "an acute state brought on by the extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration."
Though new to us, the doctors say this is a common experience given the great mental, emotional and physical shock his body has gone through in these last two weeks. Even for us, it's hard to understand the sudden transition from relative anonymity to worldwide attention - both raves and ridicules, in a matter of days.
HuffPost earlier reported that Russell was detained by the San Diego Police Department and "transported to a local medical facility for evaluation and treatment."
According to the National Institutes of Health, brief reactive psychosis can have a variety of symptoms, including speaking strangely, hallucinating, being delusional and having disorganized behavior. The DSM-4 says that symptoms can last for more than a day, but do not extend past a month's time, Behavenet reported.
The NIH explains that brief reactive psychosis is not a result of drugs or alcohol. Russell's family's statement on Gawker said that he was not intoxicated by drugs or alcohol when he was detained for the incident.
Medscape reported that brief reactive psychosis is more likely to occur in people who have a family history of mood disorders. There are some hypotheses to suggest that people with the condition are unable to cope properly with the stressful incident, and they look at the stress as unconquerable, according to Medscape.
Research has shown that the condition is relatively uncommon, though it is twice as common in women than in men. It occurs most often in people in their 30s and early 40s.
Many people experience a diminishment of their symptoms within a month without any treatments, but doctors may choose to prescribe antipsychotics or conduct talk therapy, according to the NIH.