'Caffeine Intoxication' Is a Recognized Mental Disorder
Initial defense claims of caffeine-induced insanity and a caffeine-induced false confession were abandoned before a Kentucky jury had a chance to determine their validity in the murder trial of Woody Will Smith.
But caffeine intoxication is a recognized mental disorder, reports Time magazine.
According to the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, popularly known as the DSM-IV-TR, which is a diagnostic bible for American psychiatrists, symptoms include restlessness, nervousness, insomnia, excitement, muscle twitching and “rambling flow of thought and speech,” among others.
A combination of five or more qualify a patient for the caffeine intoxication diagnosis, if they cause sufficient “clinically significant distress or impairment” and the patient’s symptoms are not due to a “general medical condition” and are not a better fit for a different anxiety disorder diagnosis.
