Psychosis

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Psychosis

Alternative Names:

Psychotic

Symptoms:

loss of touch with reality
seeing, hearing, feeling, or otherwise perceiving things that are not there (hallucinations)
disorganized thought and/or speech
emotion is exhibited in an abnormal manner
extreme excitement (mania)
confusion
depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts
unfounded fear/suspicion
mistaken perceptions (illusions)
false beliefs (delusions)

Signs and tests:

Psychological evaluation and testing are used to diagnosis the cause of the psychosis.

Laboratory or radiological testing may not be essential, but sometimes can help pinpoint the exact diagnosis. This may include:

MRI of the brain
tests for syphilis
drug screens

Review Date: 5/4/2004
Reviewed By: Ram Chandran Kalyanam, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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