advertisement

What Is The Real Meaning of “Psychotic?”

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

What is the Real Meaning of “Psychotic?”

Psychotic is a commonly used word, but do you know the definition of psychotic and what it really means? Read this.He's psychotic. You're delusional. I must be hallucinating. Terms related to psychosis are common and thrown around as casual slang. But do people fully understand the meaning of psychosis and its related terminology? What does psychotic really mean? Psychotic is a term that doesn't describe people at all. It describes a class of disorders which include schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. A mental illness can be a psychotic disorder, but a man or a woman experiences psychosis.

Psychosis refers to a break with reality. A person's mind begins to play tricks on him, and he can't tell the difference between what is real and what his mind is experiencing as real. The tricks happen in the form of hallucinations and/or delusions. Hallucinations involve the senses; something deep within a person's brain tells her that one or a combination of the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) is sending signals that the person experiences as real. Delusions are similar, but they involve thoughts and beliefs rather than senses. When a person experiences psychosis, he/she can't differentiate the tricks in the brain from the real world. The hallucinations and delusions of psychosis, the actual experiences rather than the clichéd expressions, can be confusing and frightening.

Related Articles Being Psychotic

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: What does being psychotic feel like to you? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page and on the HealthyPlace Google+ page.


continue story below


Share our Stories

At the top and bottom of all our stories, you'll find social share buttons for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites. If you find a particular story, video, psychological test or other HealthyPlace feature helpful, there's a good chance others in need will too. Please share.

We also get many inquiries about our linking policy. If you have a website or blog, you can link to any page on the HealthyPlace website without asking us beforehand.

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

  1. Cyber Bullying is Dangerous: What Parents Need to Know
  2. The Benefits of Being Angry
  3. How to Help Your ADHD Child Succeed in School

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

------------------------------------------------------------------

From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Stand Up for Mental Health

Thousands Have Joined the Stand Up for Mental Health Campaign

But we still need you. Let others know there's no shame in having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, trichotillomania, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia or any other mental illness.

Join the Stand Up for Mental Health campaign. Put a button on your website or blog (buttons for family members, parents, mental health professionals and organizations too). We also have covers for Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Latest Mental Health News

These stories and more are featured on our mental health news page:

  • Psychiatric Disorders Contribute To Violent Reoffending In Ex-Prisoners
  • Work Stress 'Damages Health As Much As Secondhand Smoke Exposure'
  • Psychedelic Therapy Re-Emerging As Promising Treatment For Anxiety, PTSD And Addiction
  • A New Factor In Depression? Brain Protein Discovery Could Lead To Better Treatments
  • Bisexual And Questioning Women Have Higher Risk Of Eating Disorders
  • Antipsychotic Drugs Linked To Brain Tissue Loss In Patients With Schizophrenia
  • Feeling Blue And Seeing Blue: Sadness May Impair Color Perception

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index

APA Reference
(2015, September 9). What Is The Real Meaning of “Psychotic?”, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, December 30 from https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-health-newsletter/what-is-the-real-meaning-of-psychotic

Last Updated: September 10, 2015
advertisement

Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD

More Info