Psychosis
Psychosis is defined as a break from reality. It can occur in many different psychiatric disorders. People can have short intermittent psychotic episodes over their lifetime or more chronic episodes associated with schizophrenia, depression or mania. In general, the earlier you treat psychosis, the better chance of a good prognosis you have. Often, psychotic thinking and symptoms can be highly distressing. There can be functional impairment, cognitive impairment and/or problems in relationships with otherwise close friends and family. A medical cause needs to be ruled out, as does a reaction to medications or drugs, as well as potential brain structural disorders. Once these are ruled out, the clinician tries to characterize the psychosis as it appears in the context of the patient's life stressors, or as it relates to other psychiatric diseases.
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