- Hallucinations
- Delusions
- Disorganized speech

Common Symptoms Across Psychotic Disorders

Empirically supported treatments for psychotic disorders. 

Psychotic Disorder Treatments

A sudden and temporary display of psychotic behavior, and can be triggered by extreme stress and trauma. This episode lasts less than a month, and is followed by complete remission, though future relapses are possible. 

Brief psychotic disorder

Schizophrenia is a severe psychological disorder that leads to a profound breakdown in an individual's ability to function, often necessitating hospitalization. It is characterized by significant disruptions in thought, perception, emotion, and behavior, including symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, incoherent thinking, bizarre actions, flat emotions, and a lack of motivation for basic activities. It is important to distinguish schizophrenia from dissociative identity disorder ('split personality'), as the term 'schizophrenia' refers to a 'splitting of psychic functions,' not a divided personality.

Schizophrenia

Also called folie à deux, this occurs when one person in a relationship that has a delusion influences the other to develop that delusion. This can happen to groups too, referred to as folie à plusiers, and can be seen in cults. 

Shared psychotic disorder

Previously referred to as paranoid disorder, delusional disorder is characterized by an inability to recognize reality from false beliefs called delusions. It occurs more often in middle age or later in life. This disorder is diagnosed when someone holds one or more non-bizarre delusions as truth for a month or more. These delusions cannot be sourced from culture or other causes. Symptoms include irritability and hallucinations.  

Delusional Disorder

Psychotic Disorder References

Lynn, S. J., Polizzi, C., Merckelbach, H., Chiu, C.-D., Maxwell, R., van Heugten, D., &amp; Lilienfeld, S. O. (2022). Dissociation and dissociative disorders reconsidered: Beyond sociocognitive and trauma models toward a transtheoretical framework. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 18(1), 259–289. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081219-102424 

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders Reconsidered: Beyond Sociocognitive and Trauma Models Toward a Transtheoretical Framework

- Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)
- Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS)
- Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS)
- Dyskinesia Identification System Condensed User Scale (DISCUS)
- Clinician-Related Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity (CRDPSS)

Current Scale to measure Psychotic Disorder Symptoms

Psychosis is a condition in which an individual becomes disconnected from the world that most people inhabit. It is the defining feature of a psychotic disorder, where a person's thoughts and perceptions are fundamentally impaired, leading to a loss of contact with reality.

Psychosis

A patient reports a firm belief that their neighbor is secretly a government agent who is replacing their thoughts with new ones via a hidden device. The patient cannot be persuaded otherwise, even when presented with contradictory evidence. This profound disconnection from a commonly shared sense of reality is the central feature of which category of mental illness?

Psychotic disorders are severe mental illnesses characterized by thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors that are so impaired the individual cannot function normally and becomes disconnected from reality. This state of being disconnected from the world is known as psychosis. People with these disorders often lose contact with reality and may experience extreme symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. Schizophrenia is a primary example of a psychotic disorder.

University of Rochester

Syracuse University

New York University

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- Anxiety disorders
- Mood disorders 
- Psychotic disorders
- Personality disorders
- Eating disorders
- Sleep disorders
- Addiction
- Adjustment disorders

Focuses of Psychopathology

Casarella, J. (2020, July 17). What Is a Psychotic Disorder? WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/mental-health-psychotic-disorders. 

Psychotic Disorders WebMD

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Disorder Class: Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:
1. Aggression to people and  animals
2. Destruction of property
3. Deceitfulness or theft
4. Serious violations of rules
 
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.
 
If the individual is age 18 years or older, criteria are not met for Antisocial Personality Disorder
 
Specify age onset:  Individuals show at least one symptom characteristic of conduct disorder prior to age 10 years

[DSM-5] Conduct Disorder Criteria

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is primarily defined by a pervasive pattern of instability across interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood, combined with significant impulsivity. Individuals with this disorder often experience intense emotions and may engage in frantic behaviors to manage their profound fear of abandonment.

Borderline Personality Disorder

A personality disorder is defined by a pervasive and inflexible personality style that significantly deviates from cultural norms, causing problems for the individual and for others. This pattern typically emerges during adolescence or early adulthood and leads to significant distress or functional impairment.

Personality Disorders

Feeding and Eating Disorders are characterized by persistent changes to eating or eating-related behaviors that result in altered consumption or absorption of food, significantly impairing an individual’s physical health and/or psychosocial functioning. 

Feeding and Eating Disorders

Mood disorders are defined as severe disturbances in mood and emotions, which can include depression, mania, and elation. Unlike typical emotional fluctuations, the mood shifts experienced in these disorders are extreme, distort an individual's perspective on life, and significantly impair their ability to function in daily activities.

Mood Disorders

Sleep-Wake Disorders are defined using a multidimensional approach due to the expectations for co-existing or comorbid diagnosis in both mental and neurological health. They are largely characterized by individual’s interpretation of having dissatisfying sleep quality, timing, or amount of sleep. These complaints are often expressed alongside issues of distress or impairment during expected daytime activities. 

Sleep-Wake Disorders

Psychotic Disorders

An adjustment disorder (AD) is a reaction to a stressful/significant life change. This reaction is marked by preoccupation with the responsible stressor shown by severe distress (more than what is typically expected) or constant thinking about the consequences of said stressor. This may alter one's mental health as a result. 

Adjustment Disorder

Anxiety disorders are characterized by features of excessive fear and anxiety, as well as related behavioral disturbances. These symptoms are often not temporary and linger beyond typical expectations. Excessiveness of these symptoms is clinician diagnosed with cultural contexts taken into consideration.

Anxiety Disorders

- Falls under the umbrella of substance use disorder. The word "addiction" is not formally recognized in the DSM-5.
- Strong, uncontrollable compulsion to administer a drug of abuse to yourself due to dependence.
- Acts on reward circuitry in the brain (dopamine) and changes the chemical composition of your brain over time.
- According to the DSM 5, only gambling addiction has been listed as a diagnosable disorder, the rest of the behavioral addictions are yet to find themselves a place on the DSM manual.

Addiction

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are a grouping of disorders that are characterized by onset during the developmental period and present as deficits in functioning. NDDs were first introduced as a category in the DSM-5 in 2013 

NDDs include 
-Intellectual disability (ID) 
-Communication disorders
-Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) 
-Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
-Neurodevelopmental Motor Disorders (including tic disorders) 
-Specific Learning Disorders

Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)

Addictive disorders characterized by a compulsive pattern of drug use and marked by both physical and psychological dependence on the substance. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) is used by clinicians to diagnose drug use disorders. Individuals with these disorders often consume more of the substance than intended and persist in its use despite significant adverse consequences.

Substance Use Disorders

A personality disorder is a long-term deviation in behavior, thoughts, and feelings from the cultural norm and expectancies. Without treatment, a personality disorder causes distress to the individual and creates problems in functioning. 

Personality disorders

Abnormalities in the development of the nervous system that are influenced by both our genes and the environment. Developmental disorders commonly manifest as behavioral abnormalities.

Developmental Disorders

Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders are a group of conditions characterized by problems related to the self-control of emotions and behaviors. These disorders are distinct from other disorders with emotional or behavioral regulation due to the nature that these problems result in violations of the rights of others and/or significant conflict with societal norms or authority figures. These disorders and their presentation can greatly vary within the category, as well as between individuals. 


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