Psychosis is a mental condition. People leaving with psychosis do not know what is real and what is not. In fact, psychosis affects how an individual sees, hears, or believes things that are not real or is paranoid that someone wants to attack them. It is safe to say that psychosis affects the mind.
When experiencing psychosis, one’s mind is attacked by sounds or seeing ghosts, or believing in something that has proven to be on through. Psychosis patients may have beliefs that are not based on reality, and they are willing to defend such beliefs.
It is pertinent to know that, those living with psychosis do not know what they are going through. With that, people tend not to understand them and sometimes see them as crazy. In most cases, family or friends often detect something off when a person experiences the first stage of psychosis.
Individuals with psychosis sometimes notice the basic symptoms of psychosis and write them off as nothing. Those experiencing psychosis for the first time are afraid and will not want to disclose it, for fear they might be termed “mad”.
Psychosis can be treated especially if detected at an early stage. It is important to start treatment immediately. Psychosis can lead to suicide if not treated immediately.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Psychosis
Psychosis signs and symptoms are related to some other mental illnesses. Some of the mental illnesses include schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, and depression disorder.
Symptoms of psychosis include:
Hearing voices that are not real
Seeing images or people that are not real
Having a feeling about something that is not true
Believing in something that is not real
Having conversations with unreal people
Frequent nightmares
Feeling confused all the time
Paranoid over sound
Psychosis symptoms can be temporary if treated with immediate effect. You will need to be experiencing three or more of the symptoms at the same time before you can be diagnosed with psychosis.
What Causes Psychosis?
As previously stated, psychosis shares similar symptoms with depression disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, trauma, etc. In a country such as Nigeria, there are underlining causes of psychosis, and it is difficult to notice them because there is not much awareness of psychosis in Nigeria.
It will interest you to know that when an individual is experiencing a psychotic episode in Africa or Nigeria, the family or friends of that individual see the person as mad and will look for spiritual healing. Psychosis is a mental illness, and it should be treated by a mental health professional like a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist.
Here are some causes of psychosis:
Past trauma: trauma in the past if not looked into can lead to hallucination. Hallucination means hearing a voice in your head or seeing something that is not there. Hallucination from past trauma is a cause of psychosis.
Genetic factors: psychosis can be inherited from one generation to another. This has to do with the biological makeup of parents of the father and mother to their offspring.
Drugs: in some cases, there are some drugs prescribed by the doctor to cure an illness that is not good for you. When such a drug is ingested, you begin to react. Some of these drugs cause hallucinations but the hallucination will wear off as soon as you stop taking such drugs.
Medical conditions: one of the psychosis causes is a medical condition like an infection or a brain injury, stroke, concussion, or cancer. These medical conditions can destroy your body system and temper your brain. Psychosis is a mental illness.
Stress: stress disorder can lead to temporary psychosis.
Fear: Fear in the sense of anxiety and paranoia can cause psychosis. Most people do not know how to handle fear or act with fear. In the case of people living with psychosis, they begin to imagine that someone is after their life or they begin to imagine that their spouse wants to leave them.
Furthermore, there is a cure for psychosis. But before inducing treatment, mental health professionals have to know the root cause. Knowing the root cause will help determine the type of treatment that will help solve the psychosis.
There is primary and secondary psychosis. The fact that psychosis can be cured does not mean that if one is diagnosed with primary psychosis, it can only be managed. It is better to go to a mental hospital for proper diagnoses and treatment when one is experiencing a first-hand psychosis episode.
There are different forms of treatment for psychosis. Depending on how serious the case is, some mental health professionals use anti-psychosis drugs for primary psychosis; this will help manage the psychosis for a lifetime.
Mental health professionals, like counselors, use talk therapy for secondary psychosis. Some individuals living with a secondary kind of psychosis can be cured with just talk therapy. They are looking for someone to just listen to them.
Other therapists that treat primary psychosis, make use of psychotherapy techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy, coordinated specialist care, or family psycho-education and support.
Who Develops Psychosis?
People who develop psychosis start in their teens. The teen stage is an early stage of psychosis. Psychosis is not diagnosed until it gets to a certain stage in a young adult. Psychosis affects both males and females. In fact, women experience most psychosis episodes during their teens.
An example of a psychosis episode includes:
“I am hearing negative voices”
“I can hear the clock ticking and it is very close to my ears”
“I am having conversations with my dead grandmother”
“I have nightmares regularly”
“I feel like committing suicide because that is what my dead mother says I should do”
“I do not trust my friend even though she is completely honest”
“Everybody thinks I am weird because I see monsters and talk to them”
“My reflection in the mirror changes each time I look at it. This way I don’t like to look in the mirror”
“When I look at the sky, I see faces, am I crazy?”
These are some of the episodes that people living with psychosis face. And it can be very confusing and challenging to speak up, especially when others are not experiencing the same episode.
Family and friends of those living with psychosis should be very supportive and know that it is not contagious. If you notice anything off and unusual about your friend or family member, do well to take them to a mental health practitioner for a proper diagnosis.
Psychosis: How it is destroying you? How to manage it?
Psychosis is a psychological disorder. People with psychosis do not know what is real and what is not. Psychosis affects how an individual sees, hears, or believes things that are not real or is paranoid that someone wants to attack them. It is safe to say that psychosis affects the mind.
When experiencing psychosis, one’s mind is attacked by sounds or seeing ghosts or believing in something that has proven to be on through. Psychosis patients may have beliefs that are not based on reality, and they are willing to defend such beliefs.
It is pertinent to know that those with psychosis do not know what they are going through. With that, people tend not to understand them and sometimes see them as crazy. In most cases, family or friends often detect something off about a person living with the first stage of psychosis.
Individuals with schizophrenia, depression disorder, or bipolar disorder sometimes notice the symptoms of psychosis and write them off as nothing. Those experiencing psychosis for the first time are afraid and will not want to disclose it for fear they might be termed “mad.”
The truth is that psychosis can be treated, especially if detected at an early stage. Psychosis can lead to suicide if not treated immediately.