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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 10 January 2022 and 27 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Layladye (article contribs). Peer reviewers: JulesUAB, Jcarte52, Kvhurley28.
Any less stigmatized clinical synonyms for psychosis?
"Psychosis" has the distinction of being one of the most socially stigmatized clinical names for an illness, and it doesn't even descriptively convey its basic definition of having an impaired perception of reality. Just looking up "psychosis" at thesaurus.com, its strong synonyms listed are "insanity", "lunacy" and "madness", "derangement", "insaneness", "psychopathy" and "unsoundness". All of those words are less specific while no less stigmatizing, except for psychopathy which is an unrelated condition altogether with an even more stigmatizing casual association with evil. Considering psychosis is an illness that can happen to innocent people under benign circumstances and doesn't always result in violence, this article could be helped by the inclusion of attested neutrally descriptive synonyms for the illness for readers genuinely curious about the subject. But I don't know of any such terms that wouldn't be protologisms or original research, like "reality perception failure", and I haven't thought of a Google search that reliably addresses the issue so I can learn more. For example, searches like "synonym for psychosis" are plagued by results not using "psychosis" or "psychotic" in a clinical sense, either. - Gilgamesh (talk) 23:48, 1 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The fact that it can happen to innocent people under benign circumstances does not change the nature of the condition. It is not stigmatized because of its name, but the other way around; the word has become stigmatized because the condition really is unpleasant, can be frightening, and can cause seemingly random violence. ("Not always" is nothing but a cop-out, unless it's followed by a clear explanation of how to reliably recognize the difference ahead of time.) Synonyms such as "insanity", "derangement", and so on, are listed simply because they are objectively true, not to attack or belittle anyone. Any sympathetic thoughtful layperson asked to define the word "insanity" is likely to come up with "losing touch with reality", "delusions", or other things described in this article. "Derangement" describes thoughts that are disordered or disturbed, and that is exactly what's being discussed.
The ONLY way such a stigma can change is for people to learn about the condition itself. And the main way for them to learn about it is for people who experience it, and their families, to talk freely about it in casual conversation. As long as it stays private, it stays stigmatized. Words are not part of the problem; silence is. TooManyFingers (talk) 23:39, 1 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 10 January 2022 and 27 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Layladye (article contribs). Peer reviewers: JulesUAB, Jcarte52, Kvhurley28.