ABSTRACT
Psychosis implies loss of contact with reality, i.e. conflict with the reality principle and subjection to a principle of un-reality or alternative-reality. Since patients tend to feel fragmented in time and in space as though they were falling to bits, defensive armour-plating is necessary but not sufficient—their very thought processes must also harden and solidify in order to be "convincing" and to invade the reality of others. The narcissistic ego reacts violently against the outside world and its values, and even more violently against the mind of the psychotic himself. The mind or psychic apparatus is a mediator in relationship with reality; the dissociated psychotic ego attacks this apparatus, which puts it in touch with unbearably painful situations. In neurosis and psychosis, there is flight from some aspects of reality, from relationships, or from anything that has emotional links to reality.
