Psychotic Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder And Depression
Psychotic symptoms are hallucinations or delusions. A hallucination or delusion is a cognitive misperception of reality.
Though hallucinations are typically thought of as being visual, hallucinations can also be auditory, olfactory, or tactile. A person having an auditory hallucination may hear voices telling them to do things.
Delusions are thoughts that are not based in reality. The difference between a mere unrealistic thought and a delusion is the degree to which the thought is unconnected to reality. For example, someone may think they want to become a professional football player though they have not played well in high school. Though it may not be realistic, it is probably not a delusion by psychiatric standards. A delusion is more extreme. The person may think they have been chosen by God, are being stalked by the FBI, or have superpowers.

