(2) Drug or poison intoxication. Both drugs and poison can act as
intoxicating agents (intoxicants) causing psychosis (loss of contact with reality). For
example, bromides were introduced in the 1850s, quickly became popular as sedatives,
and were used (sometimes abused) by millions of people. It was discovered that those
who used bromides too much reacted psychotically. These users had delusions,
hallucinations, and a wide variety of neurological disturbances. Users of a modern day
drug, LSD, behave psychotically. LSD users have set themselves on fire, jumped from
high places, and one person drilled a hole in his head with a dental drill--all psychotic
acts. Cocaine laced with rat poison has been reported to intoxicate psychotically and
sometimes fatally.
(3) Fever and/or infection. Both a high fever and/or a severe infection can
cause behavioral changes which can be psychotic in nature. Syphilis, encephalitis, and
meningitis are such diseases. An individual with an untreated case of syphilis
undergoes both physical and psychological (personality) changes. These changes
range from becoming careless and inattentive in the disease's initial stages to spending
money on impossible schemes as well as performing antisocial acts publicly in later
stages of the disease.
(4) Cerebral conditions. A cerebrovascular accident, brain trauma, brain
tumor, or cerebral arteriosclerosis can result in psychotic behavior. Damage or even
small pressure in the brain may cause marked pressure and cause impairment of the
normal functioning of the brain. Damage may cause hallucinations and a general
impairment in the individual's intellectual processes with the result that he loses touch
with reality, behaving psychotically.
d. Schizophrenia.
(1) Definition. This is a term used for a group of psychotic disorders whose
chief characteristics include gross distortions of reality; withdrawal from dealing with
other people (social interaction); and disorganization of perception, thought, and
emotion. In other words, the schizophrenic has disturbances in thinking, mood, and
behavior. The word schizophrenia means "split mind" and was initially given to this
group of disorders because it was thought that these mental disorders were caused by
a conflict between the mind and the emotions. Thinking today is that there may be
several kinds of schizophrenias with many different causes. There may be biological
causes of schizophrenia, and there may be environmental causes of schizophrenia.
(2) General symptoms of schizophrenia. Regardless of the type of
schizophrenia, the basic experience is one of disorganization in perception, thought,
and emotion. There are specific symptoms which may develop over a period of time
and which vary in seriousness from person to person. Such symptoms include the
following:
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