Psychologist Jessica Arenella<\/a>, Ph.D, describes psychosis as a disruption in meaning-making: \u201cThe person may be finding meaning in otherwise random or inconsequential things (e.g., license plate numbers, TV ads), while minimizing or failing to grasp the importance of basic needs (e.g., showing up for work, changing one\u2019s clothes).\u201d<\/p>\n The signs of a psychotic episode differ depending on the person, because the symptoms are \u201can extension of each person\u2019s unique thinking patterns,\u201d MacDermott said.<\/p>\n Generally, people\u2019s speech can be tough to follow or not make sense (because the person\u2019s thoughts are disorganized); they might mutter or talk to themselves; say extraordinary, often unlikely things (e.g., \u201cAn actor is in love with me\u201d), she said.<\/p>\n During a psychotic episode, it\u2019s common for individuals to act in ways that are strange or out of character for them, MacDermott said. \u201cThis can range from something small like wearing more layers of\u00a0clothes than is appropriate for the temperature all the way to sudden bursts of emotion\u00a0that seem to come out of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[During a psychotic episode], I zone out. I\u2019m gone. I leave reality,\u201d said Michelle Hammer, who has schizophrenia. She\u2019s the co-host of Psych Central\u2019s A Bipolar, a Schizophrenic, and a Podcast<\/a> and founder of Schizophrenic.NYC<\/a>, a clothing line with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health. \u201cI can be thinking of anything. A past conversation. A made-up conversation. A weird dreamlike situation. I lose reality of where I actually physically am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mainly just feel \u2018off,\u2019 Things just aren\u2019t right,\u201d said Rachel Star Withers<\/a>, who has schizophrenia and is an entertainer, speaker and video producer. She creates videos documenting her schizophrenia and ways to manage it, and aims to let others like her know they are not alone and can still live an amazing life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest tell for me is that I start talking to myself and thinking in third person,\u201d Withers said. She\u2019ll tell herself things like:\u201dOK Rachel, just walk; be normal.\u201d<\/p>\n A patient once described psychosis in this way to MacDermott: \u201cImagine that you summon a picture in your mind like, say, a baseball. Imagine a baseball. Now imagine what it would be like to have the knowledge that\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>put that image in your mind taken away. Now, all you are left with is a thought having no idea how it got there. That\u2019s what it\u2019s like to be\u00a0psychotic.\u201d<\/p>\n MacDermott\u2019s patients also have told her that they struggle with interpreting situations and see special meaning in everyday things. \u201cThat\u00a0same patient once saw a family member put a knife down while they were cooking and had the thought that the family member was trying to send the patient a message that\u00a0they were going to be killed because a knife represents\u00a0death.\u201d<\/p>\n In this piece on The Mighty<\/a> individuals shared what it\u2019s like to experience psychosis. One person wrote, \u201cFor me, it felt like I was watching a movie that was my life. I knew bad things were happening and I couldn\u2019t stop it.\u201d Another person described having an \u201cout of body experience,\u201d along with \u201cexcruciating sensations amplified by 1,000 at the tip of every sensor in my body.\u201d<\/p>\n Someone else explained it in this way: \u201cEvery sense is heightened and colors are especially bright. The world is on a giant flat screen TV. Everything seems more crystal clear than you ever knew, but then it all becomes confused and muddled. You make your own realities, constantly decoding messages that seem extremely important, but are ultimately meaningless. They further the storyline in your head that seems so real.\u201d<\/p>\n Arenella\u2019s clients have described their psychotic episodes as \u201cdisorienting, overwhelming, frightening and isolating. They often describe heightened sensitivity, believing that there are no boundaries, that everything is related and transparent, and there is no privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Some might believe that they\u2019re part of, or at the center of, a critical life-altering mission or plan, Arenella said. Which might lead to intense activity or the complete opposite: a feeling of paralysis.<\/p>\n One of the biggest and most harmful myths about psychosis is that people are dangerous and violent. Both MacDermott and Arenella emphasized that individuals in the throes of psychosis are much more likely to be victimized than to victimize.<\/p>\n Similarly, psychosis is not the same as psychopathy, MacDermott said. \u201cPsychopaths are people who don\u2019t feel empathy, are thrill seeking, and often are parasitic, aggressive, or\u00a0manipulative to others. Psychosis is\u00a0completely different and unrelated.\u201d<\/p>\n Another misconception is that psychosis is always indicative of schizophrenia. Sometimes, psychotic episodes occur on their own, or as part of a different mental illness, such as depression, Arenella said. Most people only experience one or a handful of psychotic episodes in their lifetime, she said. (\u201cOnly approximately one third of people who experience psychotic episodes go on to have persistent psychotic states.\u201d)<\/p>\n And if someone\u2019s psychotic episodes are part of schizophrenia, it\u2019s important to understand that people can and do recover from this illness, Arenella said.<\/p>\n Arenella, a founding member of Hearing Voices NYC<\/a>, also noted that eliminating voice hearing isn\u2019t an essential part of treatment. \u201cHow a person interprets and interacts with their voices is more important for recovery than hearing them or not hearing them.\u201d (This TED talk <\/a>from Eleanor Longden, who has schizophrenia, provides more insight.)<\/p>\n Moreover, even many mental health professionals believe the widespread myth that medication successfully treats psychosis, said Arenella, the president of the United States chapter of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis<\/a>. While medication can decrease the intensity of symptoms, many people still hear voices and have difficulty in social relating, she said. Many also experience bothersome or serious side effects.<\/p>\n \u201cMedication works for some people, some of the time, but it is not a cure all.\u201d Psychosocial treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBT-p), have been shown to be effective in treating psychosis.<\/p>\n MacDermott noted that there\u2019s a lot we still don\u2019t know about psychosis, and that includes its causes. Genetics likely plays a role. \u201cPeople with an immediate family\u00a0member with schizophrenia are much more likely to have schizophrenia themselves than someone who doesn\u2019t have an immediate family\u00a0member with the\u00a0disorder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Adverse childhood events and trauma can contribute to psychosis, as well, even though the episode can occur years later, Arenella said. She also identified other common factors: loss, social rejection, insomnia, illegal and prescribed drugs and hormonal changes.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of antipsychotic medication reduces the amount of certain\u00a0neurotransmitters, like dopamine, in the brain,\u201d MacDermott said. This suggests that too much dopamine (and other neurotransmitters) might be involved in psychosis. But, as MacDermott noted, \u201cPeople and brains are so complicated that we can\u2019t know for sure exactly what triggers psychosis in each person.\u201d<\/p>\n A big reason psychosis scares and confuses us is because it seems so out of the realm of \u201cnormal.\u201d But in actuality, \u201cpsychosis is part of the normal range of human experience,\u201d Arenella said. \u201cWhile it is unusual, it is not fundamentally different from other human experience.\u201d<\/p>\n That is, she said, \u201cpeople who hear voices actually hear<\/em> them and they sound just as real as all of the other voices of people. Imagine if someone were talking to you all day long while you\u2019re trying to have a conversation with someone else; you might be distracted, confused, irritable, and want to avoid conversations. This is a normal response, albeit to an unusual stimuli.\u201d<\/p>\n Also, many people hear voices, and aren\u2019t having a psychotic episode. Arenella noted that after a loved one dies, some people report hearing the person talking to them. \u201cMusicians and poets often hear tunes and verses in their heads and may not feel as if they created them, but more like they received them somehow.\u201d Many people also talk about hearing the voice of God or Jesus during pivotal moments in their lives.<\/p>\n We tend to be taught, both implicitly and explicitly, that psychosis is unlike any other mental health issue\u2014such as anxiety or depression, and \u201cis not amenable to regular therapeutic techniques,\u201d Arenella said. \u201cThis fosters a profound othering and harmful stigma toward people who experience psychosis.\u201d<\/p>\n And such teachings simply couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we hear someone is psychotic, we automatically think of psychopaths and cold-blooded criminals. We automatically think \u201cOh wow, they\u2019re really crazy!\u201d And we automatically think of plenty of other myths and misconceptions that only further the stigma surrounding psychosis. In other words, the reality is that we get psychosis <\/p>\n Read More<\/a>What Psychotic Episodes Feel Like<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Myths about Psychotic Episodes<\/h3>\n
What Causes Psychotic Episodes<\/h3>\n
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Shared by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., Contributing Blogger<\/a> February 17, 2019<\/p>\n