Psychosis

 

Psychosis has been traditionally defined as a loss of reality testing and impairment of mental functioning, with hallucinations, delusions, confusion, and poor memory occurring. People incorrectly evaluate the validity of their perceptions and thoughts, leading to incorrect conclusions about the world around them. This will occur even when contradictory evidence is presented. Minor distortions in reality, such as might accompany depression or anxiety, do not represent psychosis.

Commonly, psychosis now describes a severe impairment of social and personal functioning, with attendant social withdrawal. It thusly has lost

 

Most people with psychosis are aware of it and are distressed by it.

 

  • Positive symptoms
  • Negative symptoms
  • Mood Disturbance
  • Cognitive Deficits

Positive Symptoms (excess of)

delusions - fixed, false beliefs that you cannot talk someone out of

hallucinations - auditory most common

aimless, inappropriate, or bizarre behaviour

disorganized thought form and thought content

hostility

Negative Symptoms

Thought to involve mesolimbic system

  • affect flattening
  • alogia: delay or failure in responding to questions or comments
  • avolition: inactivity or early loss of interest in ongoing activity
  • anergia
  • anhedonia
  • apathy
  • emotional or passive withdrawal
  • amotivation

Mood Disturbance

  • anxiety
  • depression
  • feeling strange
  • irritability
  • anger
  • excitement
  • mood swings
  • inappropriate affect

Cognitive Deficits

can be some of the earliest symptoms and have the most impact on functioning

  • frontal cortex functions: problem solving, planning, judgment, lack of insight
  • attention, concentration, and information processing
  • memory

 

 

People's Thoughts from the Inside

"a part of your brain comes out that you never can use"