The clinical word “psychotic” is often used to refer to person who has gone mad or insane. The psychotic state is characterized by a disturbance of perception or sensing things that are not really there (hallucinations); and disturbance of thinking or having beliefs that are not based on reality (delusions). Psychotic individuals also have problems in thinking clearly (disordered thinking), and have reduced ability to recognize if something is wrong with their thoughts and actions (lack of insight).
Psychosis is a condition in which a person has lost touch with reality which leads to an impairment of judgment. In the language of psychology, psychosis is considered more as a syndrome rather than an illness since the diagnosis is based on the observation of a set of symptoms and not on the identification of the cause of the psychological problem.
According to the Institute of Mental Health, a person may exhibit some unusual behavior during pre-psychotic phase which may include: