Both neurosis and psychosis are terms of use in psychiatry, psychology and psychoanalysis, that is, in the different disciplines that study the human mind, to refer to certain mind States considered as pathological or diseases. However, each one has its very particular application and history.
For neurosis A set of mental disorders characterized by being maladaptive and by anxiety is understood in the aforementioned areas. For example: depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders. The term was coined at the end of the 18th century, but it acquired a meaning similar to the current one at the beginning of the 20th, thanks to the work in the area of Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet, among others. Today it has been discarded as a clinical descriptor in favor of a set of clinical pictures, called disorders.
Instead, for psychosis these disciplines understand a mental state of loss of contact, or split in it, with the surrounding reality. This can mean hallucinations, delusions, personality changes, or periods of fragmentary thinking. For example: Schizophrenia, Delusional Disorder, Brief Psychotic Disorder.
As a great variety of psychological, neural and even biological conditions can trigger a Psychotic attack, is often compared to a fever, as a non-specific indicator that something is wrong. These outbursts can be temporary and unrepeatable in the patient’s life, or chronic.
Examples of neuroses
- depressive disorders. They are depressive episodes, both mild, moderate or severe, with or without the presence or absence of somatic, chronic or recurrent symptoms, such as dysthymia and cyclothymia.
- Anxiety disorders. Conditions in which thought is unstoppable and carries feelings of anguish that feed back into the cycle. Such are phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress or generalized anxiety disorder.
- dissociative disorders. Those in which the continuity of consciousness is interrupted, such as fugues and psychogenic amnesia, depersonalization disorder, possession and trance.
- Somatoform disorders. Those linked to the altered perception of the body or bodily health: hypochondria, dysmorphophobia, somatoform pain, somatization.
- Sleep disorders. Insomnia, hypersomnia, night terrors, sleepwalking, among others.
- sexual disorders. Traditionally, these disorders, linked to sexual activity, are considered within the framework of two categories: dysfunctions (sexual aversion, anorgasmia, impotence, vaginismus, etc.) and paraphilias (exhibitionism, pedophilia, masochism, sadism, voyeurism, etc.) . This last category is under constant debate.
- impulse control disorders. Those in which the subject lacks restraint to certain behaviors, such as kleptomania, gambling, pyromania, trichotillomania.
- factitious disorders. Whose symptoms, physical or psychological, are self-inflicted by the patient, to receive the attention of medical personnel.
- adjustment disorders. Characteristic of an emotional response to a stressful condition throughout its first three months of onset, and in which the discomfort suffered greatly exceeds the motivations that trigger it.
- mood disorders. Those linked to the apparent lack of control of emotions and affectivities, such as bipolarity, certain depressive disorders or mania.
Examples of psychosis
- Schizophrenia. This is the name given to the chronic suffering of a set of serious mental disorders, which prevent the normal functioning of the psyche, altering its perception of reality, its awareness of what is real and promoting a profound neuropsychological disorganization. It is a degenerative disease.
- schizophreniform disorder. Recognizable for presenting many of the symptoms of schizophrenia, but also for lasting between 1 and 6 months. Full recovery, unlike schizophrenia, is possible.
- schizoaffective disorder. Characterized by the chronic and frequent presence of episodes of mania, depression, or bipolar disorder, accompanied by auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions, and significant social and occupational dysfunction. It entails a high suicide rate.
- delusional disorder. Known as paranoid psychosis, it is recognized by the onset of non-bizarre delusions, often involving auditory, olfactory, or tactile hallucinations associated with the paranoid ideas. It is not usually accompanied by symptoms of schizophrenia or very noticeable hallucinations, but it does interfere with social functions through distorted perceptions of others and of oneself.
- shared psychotic disorder. It afflicts two or more individuals with a paranoid or delusional belief, in a kind of contagion. It is an extremely rare syndrome.
- brief psychotic disorder. It is considered a temporary episode of psychosis, motivated by uncertain conditions, such as sudden changes in the environment (migrants, kidnapping victims) or pre-existing mental illnesses. It is more common in young people and appears very infrequently.
- catatonic syndrome or catatonia. Considered a subtype of schizophrenia, it is characterized by interrupting motor functions, plunging the patient into a more or less severe state of lethargy.
- Schizoid personality Disorder. It afflicts less than 1% of the world population, with severe social isolation and restricted emotional expression, that is, extreme coldness and disinterest in others.
- Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder. Such as hallucinogenic drugs, intense drugs or severe poisoning.
- Psychotic disorder due to a general medical condition. Typical of patients with brain tumors, CNS infections, or other diseases that induce psychosis-like symptoms.