psychosis Hear it!

psychosis Definition

psy·cho·sis (sī kō′sis)

noun pl. -·ses′-sēz′

a major mental disorder in which the personality is very seriously disorganized and contact with reality is usually impaired: psychoses are of two sorts, a) functional (characterized by lack of apparent organic cause, and principally of the schizophrenic, paranoid, or bipolar type), and b) organic (characterized by a pathological organic condition such as brain damage or disease, metabolic disorders, etc.)

Etymology: ModL: see psycho- & -osis

psychosis Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • induce: From the tragic increase in farming suicides to those with drug induced psychosis.
  • trigger: The age at which cannabis is first smoked ( or ingested ) is the crucial factor in subsequent psychosis triggered by the drug.
  • develop: About 20 % of patients will go on to develop a chronic psychosis over time.
  • treat: This book brings together a number of international writers who are concerned with understanding and treating psychoses.
  • experience: The average time it takes for a young person experiencing psychosis to receive help is 18 months.
  • cause: The debate centers on the view of some academics that cannabis use causes psychosis among black people.

Adjective modifier

  • puerperal: We haven't come across any more detailed information about puerperal psychosis which is aimed at the lay reader.
  • schizophrenia-like: Both a family history of epilepsy and a family history of psychosis were also significant risk factors for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis.
  • post-ictal: Obviously, crucial to the prevention of post-ictal psychosis is better control of the seizures.
  • drug-induced: He showed signs of being in a drug-induced psychosis at the time.
  • paranoid: They may end up in a state of mind similar to paranoid psychosis, believing that others are plotting against them.
  • postnatal: Very rarely a mother with postnatal psychosis may harm her child.

Modifies a noun

  • patient: I am currently investigating the diagnostic specificity of NSS in 320 first episode psychosis patients.
  • team: She works with the Trust's recently set up early intervention and psychosis team which helps people experiencing episodes of psychosis.
  • study: Aggressive behavior at first contact with services: findings from the ÆSOP First Episode Psychosis Study.
  • service: Funding agreed for development of Early Intervention in Psychosis service across Wirral.

Noun used with modifier

  • onset: The average age of first onset psychosis is 22.
  • cannabis: Is there such a thing as ' cannabis psychosis ' ?
  • episode: Tropical Medicine Panel A study of first episode psychosis in Brazil.
  • first-episode: Neurological soft signs: a review of studies on first-episode psychosis.
psychosis Quotes

   Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis.

—Beethoven, Ludwig van