In psychotic disorders,people loose touch with reality.People can experience both    “positive” and “negative“  symptoms of psychosis.

Following symptoms can be experienced :-

• Delusions– These are fixed ,firm,false beliefs based on incorrect inference about external reality. Eg. Belief of being followed,attacked, conspired ,cheated against,being talked about and observed by people,jealousy,inflated self –worth & esteem ,etc.
• Hallucinations-these are false sensory perception occurring in the absence of any relevant external stimuli. Eg. Auditory hallucinations like hearing threatening and abnormal voices,voices commenting on patient’s life,visual hallucinations like seeing ghost,someone dead,etc.
• Grossly Disorganized or catatonic behavior
• Disorganized speech or Irrelevant talking
• Negative symptoms -like social detachment,loss of interest in and withdrawal from all regular and pleasurable activities ,blunted or flat facial expressions,inability to speak,etc

Patients with both maniac & depressive episodes or patients with maniac episodes alone are said to have bipolar disorder.People suffering from this have periods (several weeks or months ),where one’s mood is in one Extreme or another.

• One extreme is called depression where person has persistently sad mood and decrease interest in regular & pleasurable activities.
• Other extreme is called Mania where person has inflated self-esteem or grandiosity,racing thoughts,more talkative than usual,excessive involvement in pleasurable activities.

People can have many episodes of such highs & lows throughout their life.