Search

Despair is a state that, like anxiety or a feeling of guilt, affects a person’s whole experience. It may derive from differing situations, depending on whether the psychological nature of conflict, the state of the nervous system, or existence as a metaphysical problem is dominant. The loss of all hope of well-being causes despair to seem related to sadness and depression, though in reality it represents a radical heightening of the latter within experience. In older psychiatry (J.-É.-D. Esquiro…

1. Definitions The term “psychosis” denotes a mental disorder characterized by gross impairment in reality testing as evidenced by delusions, hallucinations, markedly incoherent speech, or disorganized and agitated behavior. The patient is usually without apparent awareness of the incomprehensibility of his or her behavior. In the last 50 years, no universal agreement on the exact definition of psychosis has existed. The current definition of psychotic disorders in the fourth edition (text revision) of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Man…