Psychosis

From ArticleWorld


A psychosis is a term that denotes several mental states which exhibit impairing of perception and rational though. People going through a psychosis have hallucinations, delusional beliefs and experience personality changes. Lack of insight and severe thought disorders are also common.

The psychosis is just a symptom, and not a diagnosis itself. It is a symptom associated with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia, but also with the usage of various drugs or physical affections like pain syndrome or electrolyte disorders. It is also common during drug withdrawal.

Psychosis is not to be confused with delirium.

[edit]

Symptoms

There are several experiences that a psychosis involves. These include:

  • Hallucinations, which may occur at the level of any sense and include anything, from simple sensations to complex experiences. Auditive hallucinations that involve hearing voices are common.
  • Delusional beliefs
  • Thought disorders, disturbing even common speech skills.
  • Lack of insight, with the person unable to realize that their hallucinations and delusions are not realistic.
[edit]

Medical point of view

There are several causes which may trigger psychosis:

  • Mental, like schizophrenia
  • Mental stress and usage of high doses of drugs like LSD or cocaine, or the drug withdrawal.
  • Physical conditions like malaria, AIDS or leprosy.

The psychotic episodes have variable lenghts, depending on the person who experiences them. However, it is hard to distinguish between a brief episode of psychosis and a psychosis appearing as a result of a more severe medical condition.

Persons experiencing a psychosis display a structural change in the constitution of the brains. The gray matter in the cortex is significantly reduced, leading many specialists to consider the hypothesis of the psychosis as a neurotoxic affection. The activity in the right hemisphere of the brain is also heavily increased, like in the persons who report mystical or paranormal experiences. However, most specialists agree that these experiences themselves are not pathological, and it is unclear whether they are in any way connected with a psychosis.

Retrieved from "http://www.articleworld.org/index.php/Psychosis"