Meaning & use
psychosis
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountablemedical
A serious mental state in which a person loses contact with reality, for example by hearing voices that are not there or holding firm false beliefs.
Grammar: Uncountable for the condition (he experienced psychosis); countable plural psychoses for types or cases.
Patterns
- experience psychosis
- an episode of psychosis
- psychosis caused by something
Lack of sleep and drug use can bring on a brief psychosis in some people.
Early treatment improves recovery for a person experiencing psychosis.
The doctor explained that psychosis is a symptom and can have many causes.
Word forms
| plural | psychoses |
|---|
Common combinations
- experience psychosis
- Many people who experience psychosis recover fully with support.
- acute psychosis
- He was admitted to hospital with acute psychosis.
- drug-induced psychosis
- Drug-induced psychosis usually fades once the substance leaves the body.
- postpartum psychosis
- Postpartum psychosis is a rare emergency after childbirth.
- episode of psychosis
- The first episode of psychosis often appears in early adulthood.
- early psychosis
- Clinics for early psychosis aim to start help within weeks.
Synonyms and how they differ
- psychotic episode
- Psychotic episode describes one period of symptoms, while psychosis names the condition or state more broadly.
- insanity
- Insanity is an older, non-medical and legal word that is now avoided in clinical settings.
- delusion
- A delusion is just one symptom, a false belief, whereas psychosis is the wider state that can include it.
Opposites
Word family
- psychotic adjective
- relating to or affected by psychosis
- antipsychotic adjective
- used to treat psychosis, as in antipsychotic medication
- psychiatrist noun
- a doctor who treats mental illness
- psychosomatic adjective
- physical symptoms with a mental cause
Commonly confused: psychosis or neurosis?
psychosis vs neurosis
Neurosis is an older term for milder anxiety or distress where the person stays in touch with reality, unlike psychosis.
Practice
What most clearly characterizes psychosis?
Choose one answer.
Psychosis involves losing touch with reality through hallucinations or delusions. The other options describe ordinary or milder experiences.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “psychosis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.