Negative self-image is not psychosis. Poor self esteem can come about by different causes. Psychosis is a break from reality. I’ve had psychotic bipolar episodes, and I can say that it like dreaming (including nightmares). The psychotic patient sees things, or hears things, or believes things that are not real. You cannot simply talk them out of it, because to the psychotic person, whatever they are believing, seeing, or hearing, it’s very real to them. Also, when you come out of it, there are usually gaps in memory, or the memories can be distorted. During one of my psychotic episodes, I remember a police officer talking to me for a couple of minutes at the hospital. In reality, he spoke to me for over an hour.