is the term "psychotic" widely mis-used.....?

Question

From what i know, a psychotic person is someone who has dillusions and hallucinations, but the media and other people use the term psychotic to describe psychopathic murderers, many of whom arnt dillusional nor do they hallucinate. I know plenty of psychotic people and schizophrenics who are gentle souls.

Answer 1

Hi Semi

Yes, as with many psychological terms, "psychotic" is frequently misused, and has been for many decades.

As Luminous said, the basic description of a psychotic is that they have lost touch with reality. As you said in your question, this does NOT mean that a psychotic is automatically aggressive or violent. Like the lead character in the film "Harvey," many psychotics have invented kinder, quieter places in which to live. Alternatively some, like "Teddy Roosevelt" Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace," invent more exciting worlds to live in. However some are genuinely a threat to the people around them, even if, in some cases, they appear to be harmless - like the two aunts in "Arsenic and Old Lace."

It is also worth remembering that there are degrees of psychosis. Some people may be able to get by on a daily basis even without medication. And many more can live pretty "ordinary" lives if they follow their treatment plan correctly.

For the sake of clarity, there is a kind of overlap between psychosis and psychopathy.
We normally think of - usually based on media misinformation - that psychopaths re inherently evil people whose primary interest is to manipulate and harm others. And in a wy that's true. But that is their BEHAVIOR, not "what they are".

The truth is that psychopaths (those who aren't suffering from any kind of neurological damage or malfunction) are usually that way because of mistreatment, physical, or emotional or both very early on in life. Indeed, it can be as simple as not feeling physically loved and protected during the first six months of life. (There has been lots of first class research on this.)
In other words, psychopaths often behave the way they do out of fear, NOT out of aggression or anger. They are quite literally, from their perspective, doing unto others before others can do it unto them.

I say this is a kind of psychosis because it stems from bad situations in the past, not in the present. And the current situation is often judged on what happened in the past rather than on a rational assessment of what is happening in the present. Thus a malign psychopath might beat someone up just because they think the person looked at them "a certain way."
In reality that "certain way" might be a childhood memory of the way someone looked at them just before abusing them.
In fact the psychopath may not even be seeing he expression they think they remember. It may be that the person they attack just looks vaguely like the person who abused them.

One thing you might remember is that recent studies, in both the US and the UK, indicate that the behaviour of at least 6% of all managers probably fit the psychiatric description of a psychopath.

Finally, psychopaths also come in a range of intensity. Some people may simply find it rather hard to feel empathy for other people and may have few if any close relationships. People like this may seem like "cold fish" but they may never commit a deliberately cruel act in their entire lives. These people are sometimes referred to as "benign psychopaths."
At the other end of the scale, there are people who simply ignore everybody else's rights, feelings, etc. They do what the hell they like and stomp on anyone who gets in their way. These people are often referred to as aggressive or malign psychopaths.

Answer 2

A Psychotic thinks 2+2=5 A Neurotic knows 2+2=4 but he's miserable about it.

Answer 3

Yeah...i think the strict definition of someone who is psychotic is someone who experiences psychosis, ie genuinly believing something that isn't true in the world around them.

From that we can see that certainly not everyone describes as psychotic experiences psychosis, although certainly a lot do. However, words' meanings change over time, and so even though it's not always technically right to describe someone as psychotic, we understand what it means (in context).

Answer 4

"Psychotic" is generally used by people that hate someone, but can't just come out and say it, instead they resort to using terms from psychiatry and psychology.

Anyone walking around with the semblance of a normal life, is not psychotic or anywhere close.

People that truly are psychotic and need professional help, are already there, and the is little doubt as to the state of their mind.

So ... if you are in doubt, a person is NOT psychotic.

Answer 5

I think that it is mis-used alot. People get off with a slap on the wrist when they produce a shrink that says they are "psychotic". Most of the time the people do not want to own up to their actions and think everyone else is to blame for their problems. I also think that if people would take resposibility for their actions than most of this would eradicate some of the trials and courthouse use.

Answer 6

Yes it is. Psychotic means to suffer from psychosis and that is a condition or state caused by a physical or emotional illness. Psychosis is characterized by an inability to think or behave in a rational manner. Most people who are referred to as being psychotic really in fact possess the ability to think and behave rationally and socially acceptable manner but shocking us with behavior or verbiage that we know to be inappropriate.

Answer 7

Yes, you are right...Contrary to the media, psychotic does not mean homocidal maniac (in the movies, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers)...It is someone who has hallucinations and is dillusional...

Answer 8

You have the wrong idea of psychotic, as being only delusionary or hallucinogenic. It includes more.
Psychotic behavior does in fact include deranged thinking of schizophrenia and psychopaths.

Answer 9

There are many terms in psychology that are mis-used. Using "schizophrenia" to describe people with disassociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder), calling people "anal" (the proper term is "anal retentive"), saying "sub-conscious instead of unconscious, mis-use to the term "death wish", etc.

People generally like to sound more educated than they are, so they steal technical terms from various sources are make them part of their everyday speech. It takes someone who actually knows what those terms mean to point out that these other people apparently don't.

Of course, when you do that, people get upset, because you've just pointed out their ignorance to them.

Answer 10

a true psychotic doesn't know fantasy from reality so I would have to agree with you. Lots of criminals labeled "psychotic" know what they are doing and in fact are master manipulators --they're just downright mean and evil.