Psychosis
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 cannot distinguish the real from the unreal. They experience hallucinations and/or delusions that 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 are not 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 (e.g., screaming obscenities in the middle of class).
Treatment
Treatment can vary depending on the cause of the psychosis and associated disorders, and may include pharmaceutical approaches with antipsychotic drugs and therapeutic approaches.
Resources
BOOK
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed., text rev. Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.
WEB SITES
National Library of Medicine. “Psychosis” http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001553.htm
ORGANIZATIONS
American Psychiatric Association, 1400 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. http://www.psych.org
National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2107 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201-3042, Telephone 703-524-7600, Fax 703-524-9094, Helpline 800-950-NAMI (6264), Web site http://www.nami.org/Hometemplate.cfm
Paula Ford-Martin, M.A. Emily Jane Willingham