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What is psychosis?
What is psychosis?
Psychosis occurs when someone experiences things that are not true or are not realistic. Symptoms of psychosis are often called ‘psychotic’ symptoms. People with psychosis may experience other symptoms of mental health conditions. Psychosis can be a frightening experience for someone and can lead to changes in the way a person acts.
Sometimes, people experiencing psychosis can act in a way that puts themselves or others in danger, however this does not happen to everyone with psychosis, and it does not happen often.
Symptoms
Symptoms
The most common symptoms of psychosis are hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations involve seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting or smelling things that are not really there. Delusions are very strong beliefs which are difficult to change, and they are often false or unrealistic beliefs. There are some other symptoms of psychosis, which can include:
Confused thoughts – thoughts that may not make sense, or have mixed up/incorrect details
Paranoid thoughts – thinking that you are going to be harmed by someone or that you are being controlled by others, when this is not true
Difficulty telling the difference between what is real and what is not – finding it hard to tell what is real around about you and what is not real (or imagined)
Difficulty concentrating – finding it hard to focus on things, like completing tasks or reading books, and losing your train of thought
Rapid and/or jumbled speech – talking a lot faster than you normally would and/or not making sense when you are talking
Psychosis and other Conditions
Psychosis and other Conditions
Psychosis can be short-term or something that people experience for longer periods of time. Sometimes, people experience psychosis on different occasions throughout their lives, where there will be periods of time between that they do not experience any psychotic symptoms and periods where they do (sometimes called ‘psychotic episodes’). The length of time that a person experiences psychosis usually depends on what is causing the symptoms of psychosis. Some possible causes of psychosis include:
Drug and/or alcohol use
Physical illnesses, like infections and viruses
Side effects of medications
Being pregnant or having recently given birth
Schizophrenia
Psychotic depression
Stress and/or anxiety
Lack of sleep
If you feel like you are struggling with anything you have read or any other aspect of mental health, then there are services out there that can help. If you need to talk to someone you can sign up here for our peer coaching service.
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