Psychosis
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Psychosis is a medical name for a state of mind that can happen with several types of mental illness. People who have a psychotic episode are often described as 'losing touch with reality'. People with psychosis may have altered perception, thinking and emotions. They may see and feel things differently than normal people and have hallucinations. They may also have delusional beliefs or have paranoid thoughts and may behave differently from normal. Psychosis may affect speech and language so the person may seem to communicate in unusual ways. This is called thought disorder. They may also look distracted or find it difficult to focus.
Psychosis can affect people to differing degrees. Some people can continue with their lives while having unusual experiences while other people will need medical help.
Psychosis is most associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, drug addiction and brain damage but it can be caused by a wide range of conditions.
