psychotic break from reality

my 22 year old son just experienced a psychotic break. I need to understand how he was feeling. Is there anyone who has personally experienced this, and would be willing to describe what you felt? I am desperate to understand what he is going through.

My pdoc yesterday told me it's possible to have a psychotic break from too severe anxiety. This scares me bad, what is that? Does that mean I'll go crazy and hurt someone? Myself? Has anyone ever had one of these? Also is there anyone here that has had several months of severe anxiety, then slowly goes back to several months of calm? I'm afraid this feeling will last forever. Just to make sure I'm experiencing this "anxiety" what does it feel like to u all?

Psychosis is a complex because it means the person's reality testing has lessened and they have in some way a break from reality or lack of understanding of the world. Often people who experience it are not aware of it as it can affect judgment and self awareness. It depends on how much a person experiences it and when as to how it is classified within a psychiatrist's discretion. I experienced it before my current recovery from schizoaffective disorder and certainly before treatment.

While some people with bipolar disorder will experience a disconect from reality (hallucinations, delusions, paranoia) it's different from schizophrenia. Schizophrenics will often have the same disconects, but there is more to the disorder (word salad, catatonia, social isolation, social dysfunction, and impairments in the way the person thinks and speaks).

As to your question that's complex. A manic episode is a mental change in that its a break from reality. A person's emotions are not normative to what is going on. It may impair judgement such as the grandiosity typical for mania where a person has an inflated sense of self importance. As for psychosis that is a sharp break from reality in logical and normative thinking.

Yes of course like anything else. Before I recovered I would know things were not going well. I would not of course know the specifics. I would then speak to my psychiatrist. But if someone is completely psychotic they lose track of reality completely. As well a person's awareness they that have a psychiatric disability can be completely lost. I did once before I recovered stop medication and of course have to sign myself into the psychiatric hospital.

t until I had a psychotic break that I was diagnosed. It seems that after I was diagnosed (after my break) that I haven't gotten back to the "pre-break" feeling. (I stay in the depressed more than the mania) I know part of that is because of medications and we don't always want/need to get back to the "pre-break" feelings, but I am wondering... Does a psychotic break change our disorder to a permanently detiorated state? Does it just get worse on it's own?

It has taken some serious shifting of my thinking, over a lot of time, to finally climb back out into my normal healthy bipolar self. Meds took away my mania, accept psychotic break through, but they made me feel flat affect, much like the indifference you are describing. I am still not sure if I am delusional or am actually becoming a healthy bipolar, but I have gotten out of the funk. So, it has been a long and winding road to discover my true mind again.

If you just barely came out of this break with reality do you think it would be easy to trust the people who you thought were against you? I can tell you that, even now, almost 5 years after my last memories of my psychotic episode are behind me, when I saw that building that I thought was evil, it sent chills down my spine. It made all these memories I had burried somewhere in my head come flooding back unexpectedly. It was like getting hit with a ton of bricks.

That's not true. When I first developed schizoaffective disorder I knew I was psychotic. I just didn't know how much and why. And yes I needed treatment and because I got the wrong treatment (I was misdiagnosed with ocd and given Anafranil) I ended up in the psychiatric hospital in 1991 (now I am recovered, that was then). If someone is extremely psychotic they may not perceive reality at all but let's hope people get treatment before it approaches that point.

I have had three different psychotic episodes in the last year, in these a hallucination that felt as if i peed myself was always present and disappeared after the two first ones where helped with medication. This last psychosis that I had in february it has stuck to me. It no longer feels as if i'm peeing myself but rather as if i really need to pee when in reality i do not. I am on anti-psychotic medication but it does not seem to help it at all.

Such feelings are known as depersonalization or derealization meaning apart from reality. They can come from psychotic disorders but they can also be a part of anxiety disorder as well. It all depends what else is going on. The feelings are scary but what's going on is very treatable but only a psychiatrist can make a diagnosis so it would be best to speak to one and explain.

I felt as if I were out of touch with reality even though I could perceive it normally, it was more just a feeling. I remember feeling as if my visual field was a picture in a coloring book. I panicked. The next two days I felt pretty normal. Then, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I can't breathe. This lasts for a couple of days, and I end up going to the ER.

If they interfere with reality testing they would be potentially classified as psychotic. If they just seem unwarranted and cause a person to feel uncomfortable and have to perform minor rituals to make them go away then they would understand it as ocd. If they come on during episodes of depression then its important to understand depression disrupts people's thinking too. Its complex. Only a psychiatrist could diagnose them fully but its worth speaking to a psychiatrist about them.

I think that bipolar disorder can be with or without psychotic features. Since you seem to be having some psychosis then I would say you have it with. I think they have to observe you over time to get an acurate diagnosis. Therefor you would have to meet the diagnostic creiteria outlined in the DSM IV to recieve a diagnosis.

Regardless if a person has thoughts or ideas that show a strong departure from reality or reality testing that is generally considered psychotic. Mania and depression are easier to explain. If a person only has psychotic thoughts during moodswings that is generally classified as bipolar with psychotic features. That is of course treatable. See a psychiatrist you trust more and ask them why they see what they are diagnosing in you and how it can be treated.

Mostly, I tend to go off in the mountains, but sometimes, I have done some pretty embarrassing things. My psychotic break was about 18 months ago now. It took a good year to fully recover. I so relate to you saying that you "thought" you were doing better, but were likely still manic or affected by your break or bipolar. I too kept going back to start up my life again, as it was, but couldn't seem to function well for very long.

Actually if bipolar disorder has psychotic features, the person in question can hear voices from what I know. I also even knew someone with psychotic major depression who heard voices.

t say I know what specifically causes it in the brain (nor can ANYONE or it would be CURED), but I do know how it is classified and I also know the unfortunate kind of misdiagnosing that goes on with unskilled psychiatrists and doctors whom have never seen this illness before. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder because reality testing is lost, however, reality testing remains during DP/DR episodes.

Until, I read a psychiatry book and the disease of schizophrenia, I thought that what I had before was a delusion or temporary break from reality of some sort. I was in a state of panic. I read all the symptoms and started to convince myself that I have had a schizophrenic episode. The thought of having schizophrenia had such strong impact on me. These thoughts/fear of schizophrenia always intrudes my mind and makes me upset.

Once when I was on a medication in the hospital, I had an experience that I thought a person was someone from my past, but in reality I knew they weren't. It was a time when I had suffered greatly & I believe medicine side effect. Are you taking anything new?

I will say that when I was having my very powerful delusions I had no idea that they were delusions. I believed everything about them 100% and that to me it was very logical and made sense at that time. Once I was away from whatever was causing them long enough not only did I stop believing them, but I actually completely put them out of my head. I did not think about them again until I was confronted with the place that was central to the delusion.

d been involuntarily admitted to a state hospital for treatment in his mid teens, he told me he wanted to get away from his controlling mother and faked a break down. He also said the experience was great because he enjoys playing mind games with psychs, he had them all fooled and when he'd had enough he just said what they needed to hear so he could get out etc.

I could not find help, so I came out of my psychotic break on my own. It took some time. I had lost my memory and felt some of the things you are describing, though I didn't hallucinate. My mind simply became so tired, it started to shut down and rest. I found that even if I didn't sleep, I had to rest my mind in meditation and rest my body as well. I found a therapist and doctor after that, so I just kept getting perpetually better.

I also functioned while suffering with symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia myself for the longest time (although with difficulty) before I finally had my first full psychotic break and then couldn't function without medication at all as another example.

Psychotic break from reality

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