Modern society has taken it to mean many different things, but here is the actual definition
"A mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality."
One of my favorite patients regarding this was a 38 year old African-American lady with some interesting psychoses. When you would ask her about the day she would seem perfectly put-together and answer all your questions appropriately. But, if you asked her about her past and how she got here; hold on for a ride.
She told me that she is actually almost 100 years old and used to teach special education kids until one day they rose up in rebellion and beat her up (which is why she is black now) and pulled out all her hair (which is why she now has "nappy" hair). When she was white she looked like Pamela Anderson and men would stop in the street when they saw her, "riots would break out" when she was around. She also took a train to India where she used to be a doctor. She was also married to Shawn Kemp (former NBA basketball player) who also was much older than he looks. Oh yeah, she also used to be a pink alien at one time. The most interesting thing about these interviews was how she was deadly serious. She didn't laugh or wink or smile or anything. This was her reality.
One of the most interesting things I learned from this is that our brain has all sorts of filters in place. People with this type of mental illness can often have thoughts/ideas/sights/sounds bypass these filters. One part of their brain is telling another part of their brain that it is experiencing something. They are, in one sense, actually experiencing it. As you can imagine it's sometimes very difficult to tell them that these things aren't real. It's like me touching someone on their arm and then telling them that I'm not actually touching their arm. They have felt it, they know it's real, and then they are told that it's not real. Unfortunately for them, it's usually not something as benign as a touch on the arm, but can be "command auditory hallucinations" (where they hear a voice telling them to do something), or telling them people are watching, or that they used to be a fantastically good-looking white lady. Although the stories are fantastic and very interesting, overall it's very sad, because this type of thing doesn't get better very easily. The real story behind this African-American woman is that she had a mental break where she became psychotic all of a sudden and left her 3 young children in the department store that they were in, eventually getting them taken away by Child-Protective Services.
One of my favorite patients regarding this was a 38 year old African-American lady with some interesting psychoses. When you would ask her about the day she would seem perfectly put-together and answer all your questions appropriately. But, if you asked her about her past and how she got here; hold on for a ride.
She told me that she is actually almost 100 years old and used to teach special education kids until one day they rose up in rebellion and beat her up (which is why she is black now) and pulled out all her hair (which is why she now has "nappy" hair). When she was white she looked like Pamela Anderson and men would stop in the street when they saw her, "riots would break out" when she was around. She also took a train to India where she used to be a doctor. She was also married to Shawn Kemp (former NBA basketball player) who also was much older than he looks. Oh yeah, she also used to be a pink alien at one time. The most interesting thing about these interviews was how she was deadly serious. She didn't laugh or wink or smile or anything. This was her reality.
One of the most interesting things I learned from this is that our brain has all sorts of filters in place. People with this type of mental illness can often have thoughts/ideas/sights/sounds bypass these filters. One part of their brain is telling another part of their brain that it is experiencing something. They are, in one sense, actually experiencing it. As you can imagine it's sometimes very difficult to tell them that these things aren't real. It's like me touching someone on their arm and then telling them that I'm not actually touching their arm. They have felt it, they know it's real, and then they are told that it's not real. Unfortunately for them, it's usually not something as benign as a touch on the arm, but can be "command auditory hallucinations" (where they hear a voice telling them to do something), or telling them people are watching, or that they used to be a fantastically good-looking white lady. Although the stories are fantastic and very interesting, overall it's very sad, because this type of thing doesn't get better very easily. The real story behind this African-American woman is that she had a mental break where she became psychotic all of a sudden and left her 3 young children in the department store that they were in, eventually getting them taken away by Child-Protective Services.
