Move any dangerous objects out of reach. If this is a friend or family member, urge them to seek medical evaluation after the crisis is past. If they have an addiction disorder or some other mental illness, be prepared to offer your personal help and support for their treatment and recovery.
If addiction disorder has caused past problems in your relationship, and the person experiences another psychotic episode after entering recovery, your first impulse may be to accuse them of relapsing into drug use. As already noted, psychotic episodes can occur due to other causes, including delayed aftereffects of previous drug use.
If your loved one is innocent and you lash into them without even listening, resulting hard feelings will both hurt the relationship and increase the risk of actual relapse. Relapses are little different from recurrence of any other chronic-illness symptom: they signal a treatable setback, not permanent failure.
If you have had a psychotic episode or think you might be vulnerable to one: Get professional treatment for addiction disorder and any other illnesses you have. Do everything you can to minimize stress in your life. Especially, avoiding filling your schedule too full or taking on unnecessary responsibility.
Learn to reduce the pain of the unexpected by leaving room for course corrections and by practicing prayer, meditation or mindfulness exercises. Have long-term goals, pursue your passions, and believe in yourself. Eat healthy: lots of protein and fiber, not too long between meals, not too much at one sitting.
And know any foods you have bad reactions to. Get daily exercise, even if this only means squeezing in some extra walking by parking at the far end of the lot. Try to get at least eight hours of sleep each night. And practice quality as well as quantity in your sleep: keep your bedroom dark and comfortable, and establish an evening winding-down routine. National Library of Medicine, MedlinePlus. If you have psychotic experiences after giving birth, this is known as postpartum psychosis.
This is a rare condition. This is most likely to happen suddenly within 2 weeks of giving birth. This is a serious mental health condition and should be treated as an emergency. You are likely to make a full recovery as long as you get the right treatment. You may be admitted to a mother and baby unit for support. You may have a delusional disorder if you have a single firmly held belief that is not true.
Or a set of related beliefs that are not true. These are likely to be constant and lifelong beliefs. You are very unlikely to hear voices with this disorder. You will experience psychosis for a short period of time. The psychosis may or may not be linked to extreme stress. The psychosis will usually develop gradually over a period of 2 weeks or less. You are likely to fully recover within a few months, weeks or even days. Nobody knows exactly what causes psychosis. There are different reasons why you may experience psychosis.
It is thought that many people who experience psychosis because of life experiences. Which are largely out of their control. There is evidence that stressful life experiences can cause psychosis. In particular abuse or other traumatic experiences.
A review found that over half of patients that were in hospital for mental health problems had either been physically or sexually abused as children. Research suggests that mental illness can run in families. Research suggests that changes to your brain chemistry can cause psychosis.
You can speak to your GP about your concerns. They will be able to talk to you about treatment options and coping strategies. But you should listen to them. Make sure that you understand the pros and cons of your treatment options before you make a decision. Your GP should refer you to a secondary mental health team if this is the first time that you have experienced psychosis and asked for help.
You should be assessed quickly. A secondary mental health team will usually be called the:. You or your carer should be able to make a self-referral to a secondary mental health team if this is the first time that you have experienced psychosis. To find your local secondary mental health team you can try the following. A care coordinator will have regular contact with you. And they will manage your care plan to make sure that you get the help that you need.
This can include both treatment and social care needs. Support for physical health You are at a higher risk of physical health issues if you have a mental illness.
Your risks can include being overweight, having coronary heart disease or diabetes. Because of the increased risk you should have regular physical health checks. Such as a full health check including weight, blood pressure and other blood tests when you start antipsychotic medication. Your local authority is responsible for your social care and support. The social services team are part of the local authority.
If you need help and support to look after yourself then you can have an assessment by social services. For example, you may need support so that you can:. Charities In some areas, charities will support people who experience psychosis. This may be through support groups where you can talk to other people who have experience of psychosis.
Or there may be a different service available for you, such as employment or isolation support. You can look on our website to see if we have any support groups or services in your area. If you would like us to look for you please contact our advice line on and let us know what sort of support you are looking for.
There are things that you can do to help manage your mental health. You can find more information about:. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence NICE recommend that you should be offered antipsychotic medication and talking therapy if you experience psychosis. If you decide not to take medication you should still be offered talking therapy.
NICE produce guidelines for how health professionals should treat certain conditions. You can download these from their website at www. Antipsychotic medication can help with psychosis. Your doctor should give you information about antipsychotics including side effects. You and your doctor should choose the medication together.
Some people find that they do not start to recover until they get the right medication. It is important to take the medication every day to help your symptoms. There are lots of different antipsychotics to try because people respond to different medications. Some may not improve your symptoms and cause side effects. You should discuss your medication with your doctor if your medication is not working. Or you are finding the side effects hard to deal with. There might be another medication that will suit you better.
Doctors should check that your medication is working. They should also give you a physical health check 12 weeks after the start of medication and then at least once a year. Some antipsychotic medication can make you put on a lot of weight.
So, your weight should be monitored each week for the first 6 weeks. Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT CBT can help you understand your experiences and any upsetting and worrying thoughts and beliefs. You can discuss new ways of thinking about them and dealing with them. What is CBT? CBT is a talking treatment.
It is there to try and help you to:. Family intervention Family intervention is where you and your family work with mental health professionals to help you to manage your relationships. This should be offered to people who you live with or who you are in close contact with.
The support that you and your family are given will depend on what problems there are and what preferences you all have. This could be group family sessions or individual sessions. Your family should get support for 3 months to 1 year and should have at least 10 planned sessions. Art therapy Art therapy may be more useful if you have depressive symptoms, such as withdrawing from people or losing interest in things that you used to enjoy.
You will have arts therapy with a therapist. It will usually be in a group. It is there to mix different communication techniques with creativity. Art therapy aims to help you to:. Therapy for trauma If you have experienced trauma, your psychosis may be part of your way of dealing with this. This is something which can be treated with counselling or psychotherapy. The therapist will help you to understand the root causes of your hallucinations or delusions.
They will explore ways to over-come and control difficult voices and beliefs. The NHS do not usually offer counselling or psychotherapy to people who are experiencing psychosis. But they should listen to you if you ask for it. Especially if other therapies like CBT, family intervention and arts therapies, are not available locally.
You should first speak to your doctor about your treatment. Explain why you are not happy with it. You could ask what other treatments you could try. Tell your doctor if there is a type of treatment that you would like to try. Doctors should listen to your preference. If you are not given this treatment, ask your doctor to explain why it is not suitable for you. A second opinion means that you would like a different doctor to give their opinion about what treatment you should have.
You can also ask for a second opinion if you disagree with your diagnosis. But your doctor should listen to your reason for wanting a second opinion. An advocate is independent from the mental health service. They are free to use. They can be useful if you find it difficult to get your views heard. There are different types of advocates available. Community advocates can support you to get a health professional to listen to your concerns. And help you to get the treatment that you would like.
You can search online to search for a local advocacy service. We will look for you. Your concerns investigated in more detail. This is where your concerns are investigated in further detail.
You can ask an advocate to help you make a complaint. Advocates that do this are called Independent Health Complaints Advocates. People deal with their experience in different ways. You might need to try different things before finding something that works. You could join a support group. A support group is where people come together to share information, experiences and give each other support. Hearing about the experiences of others can help you feel understood.
This may help you feel less alone and boost your self-confidence. You might be able to find a local group by searching online. The charity Hearing Voices Network have face to face support groups in some areas of the country. Rethink Mental Illness have support groups in some areas. You can find out what is available in your area, or get help to set up your own support group by clicking here.
Recovery colleges are part of the NHS. They offer free courses about mental health to help you manage your experiences. They can help you to take control of your life and become an expert in your own wellbeing and recovery. You can usually self-refer to a recovery college.
But the college may tell your care team. Unfortunately, recovery colleges are not available in all areas. To see if there is a recovery college in your area you can use a search engine such as Google. Or you can call our advice service on for more information. Your doctor may offer you peer support.
Peer support is when you work with someone who has lived experience of psychosis. And who are now in recovery. They should be able to offer advice and support with:. Managing your condition on your own is called self-help. Health professionals may offer you help to manage your condition on your own.
They may call this a self-management programme. Talk back to them You may find that talking back to your voices helps you take control. You could set a time each day to listen to and answer the voices.
Remember that the voices are a part of you, so it may be helpful to respond to them in a way that you would like to be spoken to. For example, if your voice is stressed you could try speaking to it in a calming voice.
Some people find it helpful to visualise the voices. If you are worried about talking back to your voices in public, you could pretend you are speaking to someone on the phone. Standing up to voices that frighten or bully you can be tough.
You may find it helpful to have talking therapy to help you to take the power away from the negative voices. Distract yourself Listening to music, the radio or an audiobook may help you focus on something else. Concentrating on a task such as a household chore or hobby can help to distract you from your voices.
Keep a diary You could keep a diary of your voices. You may want to keep a record of the following:. Keeping a diary may help you to notice patterns and if anything you are doing is making them worse. This may help you to find new ways to cope with them. Use a mobile app The Hearing Voices mobile app offers support and promotes understanding of the challenges faced by people who hear voices.
If a person's psychotic episodes are severe, they may need to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. People with a history of psychosis are more likely than others to have drug or alcohol misuse problems, or both. But substance abuse can make psychotic symptoms worse or cause other problems.
People with psychosis have a higher than average risk of self-harm and suicide. You can also call the Samaritans , free of charge, on for support.
The mental health charity Mind also has some useful information and advice. If you think a friend or relative is self-harming, look out for signs of unexplained cuts, bruises or cigarette burns, usually on the wrists, arms, thighs and chest.
People who self-harm may keep themselves covered up at all times, even in hot weather. Read more about warning signs of suicide. Page last reviewed: 10 December Next review due: 10 December Overview - Psychosis. Symptoms of psychosis The 2 main symptoms of psychosis are: hallucinations — where a person hears, sees and, in some cases, feels, smells or tastes things that do not exist outside their mind but can feel very real to the person affected by them; a common hallucination is hearing voices delusions — where a person has strong beliefs that are not shared by others; a common delusion is someone believing there's a conspiracy to harm them The combination of hallucinations and delusional thinking can cause severe distress and a change in behaviour.
When to get medical advice You should see a GP immediately if you're experiencing symptoms of psychosis.
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