Psychosis
Psychosis is an umbrella term for a group of mental illnesses that cause loss of contact with reality, including paranoia, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder psychosis.
In these disorders, the person’s thought process and perceptions are largely affected. Symptoms include delusions Opens in new window, hallucinations Opens in new window, grossly inappropriate behavior, poverty of thought and violent mood swings.
The term psychosis no longer appears in the DSM as a diagnostic category; the group of disorders in which all the above symptoms are present are found within major categories on Axis I.
The descriptive term psychotic is currently used to label behavior that is characterized by loss of contact with reality.
These include schizophrenia, persistent delusional disorder, acute and transient psychotic disorders/brief psychotic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, etc. Insight Opens in new window is absent in psychotic disorders.
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- Research data for this literature has been adapted from the manual:
- Essentials of Psychiatry By Dr Sandeep K Goyal.
