Psychosis
What is Psychosis?
Psychosis is a mental disorder characterised by a disconnection from reality. Psychosis may occur as a result of a psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia or can be caused by another health condition or drug use. Psychosis typically occurs in a person's late teens or early twenties.
Symptoms of psychosis include
- Delusions - false beliefs that are not shared by others.
- Paranoid delusion - for example, the person believes they are being watched and singled out for harmful purposes.
- Grandiose delusion - for example, the person believes they have special powers or that they are an important religious or political figure.
- Reference delusion - for example, the person believes they are receiving special messages or code through media such as TV shows, songs or advertising.
- Control delusion - for example, the person believes their thoughts are being controlled or influenced by outside forces such as aliens, some real or invented group, an individual or something more vague.
- Somatic delusion - for example, the person believes something has happened to their body - something is wrong with it, some part of it is missing or dead, they have a disease or are infested with parasites.
- Depressive delusion - for example, the person believes they are guilty of some terrible crime.
- Hallucinations - hearing, seeing, smelling or tasting something that isn't there
- Changed behaviours and feelings.
- Suspiciousness, paranoid ideas, or uneasiness with others.
- Trouble thinking clearly and logically.
- Withdrawing socially and spending a lot more time alone.
- Unusual or overly intense ideas, strange feelings or lack of feelings.
- Decline in self-care or personal hygiene.
- Disruption of sleep, including difficulty falling asleep, and reduced sleep time.
- Difficulty telling reality from fantasy.
- Confused speech or trouble communicating
Effective Treatment of Psychosis
Treatment of psychosis includes medication, psychological therapies and social support.
Are you or someone you know experiencing psychosis?