Life with psychosis

• “You’re special, but it’s not right”
• “It is hard to trust your version of the world around you”
• “Constantly arguing with yourself”
• “You’re looking around for the source of the voice you heard or the object that just flashed by – even if you’re by yourself”
• “You’re frightened and confused and don’t want to tell people what is going on”
• “People and things randomly become scary”
• “Seeing faces; hearing voices and sometimes what sounds like a leaky pipe”
• “You are paranoid about the world around you, but don’t want to be”
• “You can’t think, or learn anything new because your brain stopped working”
• “You have some sort of special power or 6th sense that you cannot control”
• “You are not safe in your own house sometimes”
• “Betrayal”
• “Your feelings went away”
• “Oh God – Is that real, or is that me?”
• “Being stuck at a carnival fun house – you don’t know what is real and things are distorted”
• “Hearing everything around you all at once”
• “Terrifying, noisy, lonely and frustrating”
• “Being confused and excited at the same time”

Psychotic disorders are real illnesses that involve changes in perception of reality and typically start in adolescence or early adulthood. They affect:

The body

Causing a person to:

• hear sounds or voices that others don’t
• see trails, ghost-like shadows, or wavy lines
• have heightened sensitivity to light, sound, or touch
• have decreased sense of smell

Behaviors

Causing:

• withdrawal from family and friends
• changes in sleep, including reversal, where a person sleeps during the day and is awake at night
• changes in appetite
• decreased attention to personal hygiene
• behaviors that are strange or seemingly uncharacteristic
• incoherent or bizarre speech or writing
• dramatic drop in ability to function at work or school

Thoughts

Causing people to feel:

• disconnected
• out of control
• that things aren’t real or quite right
• that something is happening to their thoughts
• extreme fear for no apparent reason
• like they can’t focus or remember

If you feel like your brain is playing tricks on you, reach out for professional help right away. The earlier you get treatment, the better. Medications are very effective at reducing symptoms of psychosis but are the most helpful when combined with other services such as case management, supported employment, supported education, family supports, and psychoeducation.

Find tricks that help you feel “grounded in reality.” Some tricks could be a change in scenery, realizing that hallucinations only come at certain times, or that hallucinations go away when you say or do a specific thing.

Give your senses a break. If you are feeling especially sensitive to light, sound, or touch, find a place where you can close the blinds or curtains, where it is quiet, and you feel safe and comfortable. If you are having trouble finding a place that suits you, try noise canceling headphones to help with sounds or sunglasses to help with light.

Stay away from recreational drugs. Drugs make it more difficult for treatment to work. Even though smoking marijuana might make you feel relaxed in the short term, marijuana and other hallucinogenic substances have been connected to increased symptoms of psychosis.

Minimize the stress in your relationships. Struggling with mental illness can be difficult, and fighting increases stress which can aggravate symptoms and make it harder to recover. Focus on finding solutions and not placing blame. Know when it is best to walk away from conflict and come back when everyone is able to collect their thoughts and talk calmly.

Try to get about 7 hours of sleep each night. It can be really hard to sleep when you’re experiencing psychosis, but not sleeping definitely makes things worse. Melatonin is a supplement that can help with sleep, but you should talk with a doctor before taking it, especially if you take prescription sleeping pills or tranquilizers.

Eat Omega-3 rich foods (like wild-caught fish) or take high quality fish oil supplements. Regular, long-term inclusion of Omega-3s can reduce symptoms of psychosis. They are also really good for your body in general!

If you think you may be showing warning signs of psychosis, take our screen. A screening is not a diagnosis, but it can be a helpful tool for starting a conversation with your doctor or a loved one about your mental health.

Take psychosis screen

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.