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Psychosis

Definition

Psychosis is a symptom of mental illness characterized by a radical change in personality and a distorted or diminished sense of objective reality.

Description

Psychosis appears as a symptom of a number of mental disorders, including mood and personality disorders, schizophrenia, delusional disorder, and substance abuse. It is also the defining feature of the psychotic disorders (i.e., brief psychotic disorder, shared psychotic disorder, psychotic disorder due to a general medical condition, and substance-induced psychotic disorder).

Patients suffering from psychosis are unable to distinguish the real from the unreal. They experience hallucinationsand/or delusionsthat they believe are real, and they typically behave in an inappropriate and confused manner.

A mental illness can exhibited through various forms of psychosis, such as:

• Delusions.An unshakable and irrational belief in something untrue. Delusions defy normal reasoning, and remain firm even when overwhelming proof is presented to disprove them.
• Hallucinations.Psychosis causes false or distorted sensory experience that appear to be real. Psychotic patients often see, hear, smell, taste, or feel things that aren't there.
• Disorganized speech.Psychotic patients often speak incoherently, using noises instead of words and "talking" in unintelligible speech patterns.
• Disorganized or catatonic behavior.Behavior that is completely inappropriate to the situation or environment. Catatonic patients have either a complete lack of or inappropriate excess of motor activity. They can be completely rigid and unable to move (vegetative), or in constant motion. Disorganized behavior is unpredictable and inappropriate for a situation (such as screaming obscenities in the middle of class).

Paula Ford-Martin, M.A.