Psychotic Disorders

Psychosis refers to a breakdown in the ability to recognize external reality. Symptoms of psychosis include hallucinations, delusions, and disorganization of thought or behavior. Hallucinations entail the perception of something that is not present, and they can occur in auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory modes. Delusions are characterized by a fixed, false belief, and they vary across a spectrum from plausible to bizarre. Thought disorder can range in severity from subtle disorganization to total incoherence.

Keywords: psychosis; psychotic disorders; antipsychotic medication; neuroleptic; schizophrenia