№ 9Clinical Disorders11 min read
The Concept of Psychosis, Psychotic Symptoms, and Psychotic Disorders
1. Overview & Epidemiology
The concept of psychosis
- Psychosis = loss / disturbance of reality-testing. This is the essence of the concept (PSY - 3.9): the patient can no longer reliably distinguish internal experience from external reality, and the false beliefs/perceptions are held with conviction despite contradictory evidence.
- Psychosis is a syndrome, NOT a single diagnosis. It is a cross-sectional state that occurs across many disorders — schizophrenia spectrum, mood disorders (psychotic depression, manic psychosis), substance use, and organic/medical conditions.
- The classic descriptive division (Gajdos, Schizophrenia):
- Positive (productive) symptoms —
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