psychotic, neurotic, neurasthenic

These terms are loosely used interchangeably, and for good reason: it is difficult to separate and apply them exactly. A psychotic person suffers from a psychosis, any major, severe, and debilitating mental disease. A psychotic individual may or may not suffer the breakdown of some organ (or organs) of his body, but his intellectual powers are severely affected and he tends to withdraw from reality. A neurotic person experiences a neurosis, which is defined as any of several disorders of the mind or of the emotions, such as anxiety, nameless fears, and unwarranted dislikes for persons or objects. Neurasthenic applies to someone who is experiencing neurasthenia, a mental and physical condition marked by loss of energy, fatigue, feelings of inadequacy, and inability to remember details. A neurasthenic is one suffering what is vaguely known as a nervous breakdown. Only individuals with unusually severe mental illnesses should be referred to as psychotic. The exact term to be applied to others had best be left to psychologists and psychiatrists.