[Significance of cognitive disorders in interaction with psychotic patients]

The results of psychologic psychosis research point to elementary disturbances in the reception and processing of information. Such impairments are usually not noticeable during routine psychiatric interviews. Attention is drawn to a few reasons for this discrepancy between research results and diagnosis of individual cases. Examples are quoted to show that it is quite possible to obtain information from the patients under certain conditions, allowing the treating physician to detect latent disturbances which can help to supplement available research results. At the end of the article, the author discusses the ensuing consequences when dealing with such patients.