ABSTRACT
Of the types of abnormality discussed in this book, psychosis and the psychotic disorders challenge our understanding most. They have generated a bewildering array of biological, psychological, social, sociological, and even political, research, with proportionately the least return in the way of comprehension of their nature and causes. Opinions about them are invariably wildly polarized, backed by evidence that is often unreplicated, flatly contradicted by other findings, or deliberately chosen to suit the argument. Because the topic is so unusually vast and untidy we, too, will need to be selective in the material we include here. It is therefore highly likely that we will also present a one-sided view – and the reader should be aware of that. But, given space limitations, some angle on the topic had to be chosen if we were to give a coherent account of a highly complex field. We were helped in this by the fact that one of the major issues about the psychotic disorders is precisely the one that is the central theme of the book.
