PSYCHOSIS: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS, AND CONTEMPORARY TREATMENT STRATEGIES

A distorted view of reality is the hallmark of psychosis, a severe mental illness that frequently manifests as hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and diminished insight. It might be secondary to mood disorders, substance abuse, neurological diseases, or physical ailments, or it can manifest as a main psychiatric disorder, such as schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Its pathogenesis is largely caused by dysregulation of neurotransmitter systems, specifically dopamine, glutamate, and serotonin. Since postponed treatment is linked to worse clinical outcomes and functional deterioration, early detection and precise diagnosis are essential. A multimodal strategy is needed to manage psychosis, combining psychosocial therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, family interventions, and rehabilitation programs with pharmaceutical measures like antipsychotic drugs. A substantial disturbance in perception, cognition, emotional control, and behavior characterizes psychosis, a complicated and incapacitating mental health illness that impairs one's capacity to discriminate between subjective experiences and reality. Hallucinations, delusions, disordered speech and behavior, diminished insight, and cognitive impairments are among the fundamental clinical characteristics. Psychosis can occur as a side effect of mood disorders, substance abuse, neurological illnesses, metabolic disorders, infections, and negative drug effects, or it can manifest as a major psychiatric disorder such schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and short psychotic disorder. The pathophysiology of psychosis is complex and includes genetic predisposition, structural and functional abnormalities of the brain, neuroinflammation, dysregulation of dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and serotonergic neurotransmission, and environmental stressors like trauma, urbanization, and psychosocial adversity.