Psychosis: "No!"

Note: Page numbers enclosed in parentheses are citations from The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A systematic presentation in selections from his writings. (H. L. and R. R. Ansbacher, Eds.). © 1964, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Used by permission of Perseus Books Group.

The “No!” of the psychotic expresses his or her departure from the common sense of the community into a fantasy world of his or her own creation. The psychotic operates as if to say, “I’ll see and do it my way!” He or she does not acknowledge the imperative of communal life (unlike the neurotic, who acknowledges it only to seek excuses from it, and unlike the sociopath, who acknowledges it only to defy it in a claim of personal superiority and exemption). Organic weakness, malfunctioning, or intoxication (where any of these can be identified) appear to facilitate the withdrawal rather than to determine it.

The patient develops his inner world, which contrasts with reality, in the foundation of a wrong perspective (p. 300). 

Psychosis . . . appears to us as the mental suicide of an individual who does not believe himself adequate to the demands of reality and to his own goals (p. 323).

© Griffith, J., & Powers, R. L. (2007).  The Lexicon of Adlerian Psychology:  106 terms Associated with the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler (2nd ed.). Port Townsend, WA: Adlerian Psychology Associates (p. 86).

Definitions of concepts are used by permission of Jane Griffith. A comprehensive list of concepts and definitions can be found in The Lexicon of Adlerian Psychology: 106 Terms Associated with the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler by Jane Griffith and Robert L. Powers, available for purchase on Amazon.com.