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Psychosis: Persons
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There are a number of possible causes for psychosis. Psychosis may be the result of an underlying mental illness such as bipolar disorder (... known as manic depression) or schizophrenia. Psychosis may also be triggered or exacerbated by severe mental stress and high doses or chronic use of drugs such as amphetamines, LSD, PCP, cocaine or scopolamine. However, incidence of psychosis resulting from a single administration of any drug is rare, although cases have been reported in the medical literature suggesting a person's sensitivities to new compounds can be unpredictable. Sudden withdrawal from CNS depressant drugs, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, may also trigger psychotic episodes. As can be seen from the wide variety of illnesses and conditions in which psychosis has been reported to arise (including, for example, AIDS, leprosy, malaria and even mumps) there is no singular cause of a psychotic episode.
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Psychosis (sy-KO-sis) is a broad term covering a range of mental illnesses associated with a loss of connection to reality. Illnesses that involve psy chosis may severely impair a person's ability to relate to other people and to perform basic tasks of daily life.
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Psychosis may involve delusional beliefs, some of which are paranoid in nature. Karl Jaspers classified psychotic delusions into primary and secondary types. Primary delusions are defined as arising out of the blue and not being comprehensible in terms of normal mental processes, whereas secondary delusions may be understood as being influenced by the person's background or current situation (e.g., ethnic or sexual discrimination, religious beliefs, superstitious belief).[76]
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Some medical conditions may cause psychosis in a patient. Dementia conditions, such as Alzheimer's and degenerative brain disorders, can cause a person to develop psychosis. Epilepsy, brain tumor, kidney failure, thyroid disease, and stroke can ... cause psychosis. Syphilis can also cause psychosis. There are also a number of psychiatric conditions that can cause or correlate with psychosis. Bipolar disorder, a mood condition characterized by drastic swings from mania to depression, and psychotic depression can cause psychosis.
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The term psychosis should be distinguished from the concept of insanity, which is a legal term denoting that a person should not be criminally responsible for his actions. It should be distinguished from the state of delirium, in that a psychotic individual may be able to perform actions that require a high level of intellectual effort in clear consciousness. Finally, it should be distinguished from mental illness. Persons with schizophrenia can have long periods without psychosis and persons with bipolar disorder and depression can have mood symptoms without psychosis. Conversely, psychosis can occur in persons without chronic mental illness as a result of drug overdose or extreme stress, although psychosis is considered by most mainstream mental health practictioners to be a sign of mental pathology.
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Antipsychotic drugs are prescription medications used to treat psychosis. The vast majority of antipsychotics work by blocking the absorption of dopamine, a chemical that occurs naturally in the brain. Dopamine is responsible for transmitting messages across the synapses, or junctions between nerve cells in the brain. Too much dopamine in a person's brain speeds up nerve impulses to the point of causing hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorders.
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