psychosis tw – aceofsquiddles

space-elves:

i will not do the “keep reading” thing, so i’m sorry you have to scroll throught a lot of text, but i think this is kind of important!

psychosis often hit around 20 years old or later, but i was just a kid. at 15 i banged my head to the wall in hope of killing the voices before they killed me. i didn’t know anything about psychosis, i was just scared. nobody i knew could fully understand what i was going through. i couldn’t seperate reality from fantasy. today, i know what my symptoms are and i find great comfort in that.

i’m on medications that works wonders and i want to teach people about psychosis, so that they may understand their loved ones with psychotic symptoms. i also want more people to know about psychosis because, well, it’s quite misinterpreted! browsing through the psychotic tag on tumblr is a nightmare! i’m not crazy, insane, dangerous, mad, ascocial or violent!! i’m just a person with psychotic symtptoms. so here’s a masterpost about causes, triggers, coping skills and lots more about psychosis.

causes

people are born with different vulnerabilities when it comes to mental health. you can be born with a high vulnerability – different factors effects how high it is, for example if a relative had a psychotic illness the risk is higher for you. another factor is complications during pregnancy or birth. science has also shown that your vulnerability increases by use of marijuana. stress is one thing that often triggers psychotic symptoms. if you have a high vulnerability, it doesn’t take much stress.

in the brain

neurons is the brain communicate with eachohter through synapses. chemical messengers in the brain called neurotransmitters sends messages between the neurons through synapses. vulnerabilitiy by psychosis is about an imbalance in those synapses. dopamine is a neurotransmitter that reseachers believe have a big role in psychosis. dopamine is what makes us think something is important or interesting, and disrutpion in those brain functions may explain the symptoms of psychosis. medications reducing dopamine also reduces psychotic symptoms.

triggers

stress is one trigger, but many other things can also trigger psychotic symptoms. some conditions can trigger psychotic episodes in some people, that include anxiety and depression, as well as HIV, malaria and alzheimers.and cannabis isn’t the only substance that can trigger psychosis, other substances include cocaine, speed, crystal meth, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms and ketamine.

symptoms

hallucinations is a psychotic symptoms. auditory hallucinations are the most common which is hearing things others around you can’t hear. all senses can develop hallucinations – seeing things that aren’t there, tasting, smelling, feeling. another symptom are delusions, a strong belief that can’t go away even though you have facts suggesting that it isn’t true. trouble thinking – having too much thoughts or having slow thoughts is a psychotic symptom. negative symptoms are things that the person with psychosis lack, unlike positive symptoms that are added to the peron with psychosis. negative symtptoms may be not having energy, feeling indifferent towards things and gestures may decrease.

catatonic behaviour is a bit more rare. it’s when the person stops moving and can be completely still for a long period of time. disorganized speech includes for example quickly jump from topic to topic or using neologisms (made up words) as well as repeat words or sentences. disorganized behaviour appears as a decline in overall daily functioning, unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses, behaviors that can appear bizarre and have no purpose, lack of impulse control. people with psychosis may also experience more trouble functioning in social situations, isolation, trouble handling jobs or everyday chores.

coping

i know i’m just including coping skills for auditory, visual hallucinations and delusions, but i don’t really know how to cope with other types of hallucinations or other psychotic symptoms.

voices

• relax – voices are often caused by stress, so try to focus on your breathing.

• distract yourself – focus on a task or watch tv.

• ask your voices a question, that you dont know the answer to – if they dont know the answer the voices must be coming from within you.

• background sounds – people have reported that listening to music or having the tv on sort of drowns the voices.

• talk back to your voices – ask them to leave and say no if they order you to do things, remind yourself who’s in control.

• know your triggers – it may help to keep a diary of when the voices are more active.

• medication – modern anti-psychotics are 80-90% effective in revieling voices and will often make them disappear.

• hum or sing – it drowns the voices as well as distract you.

• read out loud – same with hum or sing

• open your mouth really wide – i have no idea why or if this works, but you can try it!

• just a symptom – try to think of your voices as just a symptom, and not something that has a special meaning. after all, it’s just a random thought you can hear.

visual hallucinations

• take a picture – if you’re unsure something is there you can try taking a picture

• turn away – or break eye contact, leave the room. if you don’t see it it’s not there

• shine on them – if you see shadows you can try shining light on them from your phone flashlight

• medication – well, yeah, you get the idea. they work.

• five senses method – acknowledge five things you can see; four things you can touch; three things you can hear; two things you can smell; one things you can taste.

delusions

• distraction – try to take your mind of it, even though it’s not that simple.

• give them facts – checking facts and statistics may help

• talk about them – in my case, the more i talked about my thoughts, the more unrealistic they seemed. That may not happen to everyone, but it is helpful to talk about them.

• know your triggers – delusions are also good to know when they’re more active.

do’s and don’t’s

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don’t “self-medicate” – marijuana has shown to make psychotic symptoms worse and makes the risk of falling back into a psychosis bigger. other substances that can trigger/worsen/even cause psychotic symptoms are cocaine, speed, crystal meth, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms and ketamine

• try to manage your stress – psychotic symptoms has quite a lot to with stress. it’s also important for any mental health issue.

• take care of yourself – selfcare, mindfulsness, exercise, eat reguraly and healthy, sleep well… you get the idea.

• know your early signs – it’s good to know when you start getting signs of another episode, so you can adjust your medication or talk to your doctor more often so you can avoid another episode. early signs may be sleeping less or more, isolation, being annoyed or thinking “is medication even necessery?” i

• don’t isolate youself – this is a early symptom for me, before i get a psychotic episode, i often isolate myself and hate the world. that often lead to me being alone with my delusions and they get worse. so try to see friends often, especially when you have early signs.

• don’t assume it’s schizophrenia – it’s usually not schizophrenia. there could be many reasons and/ or illnesses for someone to have psychotic episodes. And almost everyone experience psychosis some time in their life, schizophrenia needs a half year or longer psychosis.

• stop talking to toxic people – not everyone will understand psychosis, and that’s ok. but there’s a fine line between not understanding, and being toxic. if they start making jokes you’re not comfortable with or if they trigger you in some way, stop talking to them.

• don’t try to figure out what the voices mean – voices are just random thoughts coming to life. they don’t have to be true or important, they have no special meaning that you need to figure out.

living with someone with psychotic symptoms

• keep an eye out for early symptoms (things that can happen before a psychotic episode)

• you can’t love the symptoms away, but please, show a lot of love

• their symptoms are no ones fault

• don’t challenge their delusions, they won’t go away no matter how many facts you give them

• keep a dairy of when the symptoms are more active

• one symptom of psychosis is lack of motivation and hard time starting chores. help to motivate and give them creds for what they do.

• learn about their illness, symptoms and maybe even what side effects they get from their medication. understand who the person is, and who their mental illness is.

• remind them to take medication, if they are bad at taking them themselves

• take care of yourself too, you are lovely

statistics

among people with schizophrenia, which is a psychotic illness, 1 in ten commits suicide. that makes suicide the leading cause of premature death among people with the illness. but it’s worth to keep fighting as 15-25% recovers and 50% improves. and with more understanding and love, as well as less fear and stigma, the number of suicides may go down.