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psychosis definition

psy·cho·sis (sī kō′sis)

noun pl. psychoses -·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

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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