OVERVIEW
Psychosis is when a person looses touch with reality. Psychosis is not a condition but it is a term that describes a collection of symptoms. People with psychosis may have false beliefs or experience things that are not real. Psychosis often begins in young adulthood when a person is in their late teens to mid 20s. The important types of psychosis include delusions and hallucinations.
CAUSES OF PSYCHOSIS
- Traumatic experiences
- hormone related conditions
- drug misuse
- alcohol misuse
- schizophrenia
- severe depression
- head injury
- bipolar disorder
How often a psychotic episode occurs and how long it lasts depends on the underlying cause
SYMPTOMS OF PSYCHOSIS
- hallucinations
- disorganized behavior
- catatonia or frozen appearance
- confusing or disrupting thoughts
- feeling paranoid or suspicious of others
- a sudden drop in school work or job performance
- difficulty separating reality from non reality
- trouble communicating
- withdrawal from from friends and family
- an influx of strange, new feelings, or no feeling
- delusions, for example grandiose delusions
TREATMENT OF PSYCHOSIS
Your treatment will depend on what is causing your psychotic symptoms. There is no cure for psychosis but the symptoms can be managed. A person with psychosis needs to see a team of doctors that includes a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker who can develop a treatment plan. The several approaches that can be used to treat psychosis include:
- Medication: Antipsychotic drugs are the most common type of medication to treat psychosis but other medication such as antidepressants may be used.
- Therapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy also called talk therapy is the most common used psychotherapy used to treat pychosis
- Hospitalization: In severe cases of psychosis especially when a person is suicidal or poses a danger to others, inpatient treatment or specialist treatment is nice.