The word "psychosis" has two parts. The first part comes from psyche, which means soul in Ancient Greek. The second part is the ending, -osis, which means illness or unnatural condition. So psychosis means unnatural condition of the soul.
Symptoms
People with psychosis may have hallucinations and/or delusions (fixed beliefs and ideas that are usually false). Sometimes their personality changes, and they cannot think straight. Some of these thoughts may be paranoid. However, not every psychotic person has all of these problems.
Psychosis can make it difficult to live a normal life as part of society. People with psychosis often have trouble with making friends, as most people do not understand them.
Psychosis can affect people to different levels. Some people can continue with mostly normal lives, while other people will need a lot of medical help.
Religion & supernatural experiences
Many people on Earth have had supernatural or religious hallucinations that they believe are real (like sightings of the Virgin Mary). According to Johns and Van Os (2001), these cases may just be an extreme version of something that many people experience.
However, religious delusions can also be a symptom of schizophrenia.
People with schizophrenia with psychotic symptoms have a problem with thinking about practical things because they are thinking very much more about abstract things.
In movies and the media in general, violent and antisocial people are sometimes called "psychotic." This image of psychosis is wrong. The people shown are usually psychopaths or sociopaths, not people with psychosis. They usually do not have hallucinations or delusions.
Mental disorders that can cause psychosis include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression. Severe psychological stress can also cause psychosis.
Severe lack of sleep can cause psychosis. This is not a problem for most people. Most people only experience hallucinations shortly before going to sleep or shortly after waking up, which is considered normal.
Sometimes, the reason for a person's psychosis is not clear. Some of these psychoses may be linked to genetic factors. A person's risk for psychosis may be related to certain events during their mother's pregnancy or their early childhood.
The first episode of psychosis may be triggered by stress.
Treatment
Most psychoses can be treated, so that those suffering from them can lead a normal life. The treatment depends on the cause of the psychosis. In general, there are two different forms of treatment available:
There is therapy for psychotic people. This works by teaching them to recognise when they have an episode of psychosis, and to react to it in certain ways.
↑Niebrzydowska, Anna; Grabowski, Jakub (2022). "Medication-induced Psychotic Disorder. A Review of Selected Drugs Side Effects". Psychiatria Danubina. 34 (1): 11–18. doi:10.24869/psyd.2022.11. ISSN0353-5053. PMID35467605.
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