The words “psychosis” and “psychotic” feed into the stigma of mental illness, especially against schizophrenia. This stigma is due in no small part to popular media, be it books, TV thrillers, or suspense movies, where the “bad guy” is often someone described as a “psychotic schizophrenic.” The depiction of such people is under-researched and bears little resemblance to the state of mind of people with psychotic disorders. Yet, the label “psychotic” can send even the most intelligent people into a panic and a subsequent total rejection of someone living with a brain disorder with psychosis as a symptom.
What is psychosis? According to psychiatry.org, psychosis refers to a set of symptoms characterized by a loss of touch with reality due to a disruption in the way that the brain processes information. When someone experiences a psychotic episode, the person’s thoughts and perceptions are disturbed, and the individual may have difficulty understanding what is real and what is not.
The experience of psychosis is terrifying for the mental health consumer undergoing these symptoms. Usually, they are aware of something being frighteningly wrong with their sensory perceptions. Yet, they usually cannot correct the problem without the help of a psychologist and a psychiatrist. If people react to them with fear and rejection, they only reinforce the feeling of alienation and negative judgment that are often in place as part of the psychosis. What the person undergoing a psychotic episode needs is calmness and kindness, with encouragement for them to seek professional help.
It is unusual, not expected, that someone experiencing psychosis is dangerous to others. They are mainly a danger to themselves as they battle to regain actual reality and fight what is sometimes an instinct to harm themselves due to the perceived negative judgment of others.
The L.E.A.P. method, which was the subject of an earlier blog post, gives pointers on how to proceed in handling someone undergoing a psychotic break. Remember what the acronym means: Listen, Empathize, Agree, Partner, there is no room here for fear and rejection!
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