Sociopolitical events and technical innovations may affect the content of delusions and the course of psychotic disorders.

The influence of culture on patients with psychiatric disorders has been well documented in the psychiatric literature. The unique emphasis of this paper is the influence of current social and political events on psychotic patients. Current events can be classified into two groups: (1) Communal stressful events that affect everyone (shared stressors), such as earthquakes, wars, etc.; and (2) Public events, highly reported by mass media, but not personally stressful, e.g., elections. This article is devoted to the discussion about the effect of sociopolitical non-traumatic events on persons with psychotic disorders. The author reviewed evidence that sociopolitical events and technical innovations affect patients with psychotic disorders. The author suggests that social events and scientific innovations may change the content of delusions and affect the course of psychotic disorders. The author also suggests that physicians should be sensitive to the clinical impact of sociopolitical events. Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.