psychosis

Term: psychosis

Literally meaning:

Origin: Anc Greek

ψυχή/psixhi > ψύχω/psicho (= blow, breath). A psyche in mythology means a butterfly or the soul, spirit, breath and  life.

+(-ωσις)/-osis(=suffic denoting  process)

Coined/History

The word ''psychosis'' was first used by Ernst von Feuchtersleben in 1845 as an alternative to insanity and mania which affected the personality as a whole. The word was used to distinguish disorders which were thought to be disorders of the mind, as opposed to "neurosis", which was thought to stem from a disorder of the nervous system.

Definition

Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term describing the loss of contact with reality.