Psychosis is a gross disturbance in an individual’s ability to distinguish self from reality. For schizophrenics, the membrane between imagination and reality is so porous that having an idea and having an experience are not particularly different. In the earlier stages of illness, schizophrenics often have symptoms of depression, because psychosis itself is distressing and because of the desperate nature of schizophrenic thought. This is the time of greatest suicide risk. In later stages, emotional capacity altogether is reduced, and people may seem vacant and emotionless.
