Psychosis
Psychosis
Medically reviewed byGiorgi (Guga) Sikharulidze · MD, PhD — Psychiatrist · Professor · Clinical ResearcherUpdated:
Psychosis can present as a single, transient episode or as a chronic condition. Pathologies in perception and thinking characterize it. Individuals often report that reality or their environment has changed.
Types:
- Exogenous Psychosis: Triggered by external factors:
- Organic pathologies of the CNS causing degenerative changes
- Psychoactive substances
- Hallucinogenic substancesMarijuana
- Alcohol
- Intoxication from various substances
- Endogenous Psychosis: Arises spontaneously.
Symptoms:
Perceptual Pathologies
:
- Hallucinations:
Auditory
Tactile (sensory)
Olfactory
Visceral (sensations in internal organs)
- Illusions:
Verbal illusions: a person hears insults or mocking in other people's conversations.
Types of Delusions:
- Paranoid Delusions: Believing one is being persecuted by others, organizations, or government structures intending to harm or damage their reputation.
- Referential Delusions: a belief that events, gestures, conversations... are somehow related to a person.
- Grandiose Delusions: Inflated beliefs about one’s abilities, such as having unique talents like telepathy or prophecy.
- Nihilistic Delusions: Total hopelessness, such as believing the world is ending or everything is meaningless.
- Hypochondriacal Delusions: Unfounded belief of having a severe illness despite medical evidence to the contrary.
- Religious Delusions: Varying content, such as feeling sinful or perceiving oneself as a messiah.
- Jealous Delusions: otherwise known as morbid, particularly in marital contexts, having a sense of betrayal despite evidence to the contrary.
- Erotomanic Delusions: Believing that someone unattainable loves them.
- Delusions of Influence: Believing that external forces control one’s thoughts or actions.
- Thought Insertion or Withdrawal: Believing that thoughts are being implanted or removed by an external force through telepathy or other means.
Immediate medication treatment is necessary.
Related: depression · bipolar disorder · psychiatrist consultation
Sources: NIMH — Understanding Psychosis; WHO — Schizophrenia.
Frequently asked questions
In psychosis, perception and thinking are disrupted and the person loses contact with reality; the main signs are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking and behavior.
It may be exogenous (triggered by physical illness, brain injury, drugs, alcohol, or intoxication) or endogenous (arising from genetic and neurobiological factors, as in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or severe depression).
Urgently, if a loved one becomes withdrawn, tense, fearful, or develops suspicions and unreal thoughts; psychosis does not improve without treatment and can endanger life.
The foundation is antipsychotic medication, which reduces delusions and hallucinations; once stabilized, psychotherapy (CBT, supportive therapy) is added, with the day center for severe cases.
Related
Conditions
- ParanoiaAssessment and treatment of paranoia in Tbilisi: psychiatric evaluation, antipsychotic therapy and supportive psychotherapy at GSMRC.
- Bipolar DisorderDiagnosis and long-term treatment of bipolar disorder in Tbilisi: mood stabilization, psychotherapy and day-clinic care at GSMRC.
- HallucinogensTreatment for hallucinogen use and its psychiatric complications in Tbilisi: assessment, stabilization and psychotherapy at GSMRC.