ABSTRACT
Psychosis implies the loss of reality testing, where one is unable to discriminate between what is "inside" and what is "outside" one's own mind. Contrary to Kraepelinian tradition, which viewed psychoses categorically and symptoms as discrete, unitary phenomena, contemporary researchers view psychotic phenomena along a continuum from subthreshold symptoms, on one hand, to full-blown, diagnosable disorders, on the other. Considering disordered thinking from a variety of perspective guards against simple, reductionistic formulations that either overlook or exaggerate subtler manifestations of some concepts. A more comprehensive definition of disordered thinking includes multiple aspects of cognitive and language functioning. It addresses the form of thoughts, content of the thoughts, conceptual and reasoning processes that give rise to these thoughts, and social-cognitive features that reflect when and how one shares his or her unusual thoughts. A broader understanding of disordered thinking appreciates the links between disorders in thought and communication and disturbances in fundamental cognitive processes that govern attention, memory, reasoning, and self-monitoring.
