In the image, you will see a quotation from the Kindle version of my book “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia” by Diana Dirkby. It describes the moment that the narrator character of the novel, Sarah, experienced her first psychotic break. Notice that it comes after she is mugged. A shock or stress can help to bring on a psychotic break if someone is living with schizophrenia.
“Psychosis” is a word that scares many people due in part to the way the term is used in entertainment, be it a book, movie, radio show, or TV show. Someone is described as dangerous because they are “psychotic.” This association is rife with stigma and inaccuracies.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (their website is psychiatry.org, and the link to their summary about schizophrenia is https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia), 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.
I believe that the loss of touch with reality is what scares many people in this description, and stigma is fueled by a false representation of how that feels for the person undergoing psychosis. In my book, there is nothing dangerous in the behavior of the character Sarah following her first psychotic break. It was this way for me also, and my first psychotic break occurred in much the same way with the radio talking to me and my feeling judged negatively by its broadcast. I believe I had experienced symptoms of schizophrenia beforehand, but they were not strong enough to be described as psychotic. In my book, I describe the complicated symptoms that Sarah endures following this first incident with the radio. Sarah is much more afraid of everyone else than everyone else needs to be of her. She fortunately has a couple of friends who treat her with kindness; without them, her outcome would have been far worse.
When someone loses their grip on reality due to schizophrenia, they then have to relate to a new reality that is only theirs. It can be challenging for that person to cope with daily activities simply due to this confusion. Trying to talk them out of how they feel serves no purpose, and it is undoubtedly damaging to them to undergo rejection due to stigma.
A loss of touch with reality is just that. It is not a murderous plot, the prelude to actions of violence, a wish to make everyone’s life miserable, and so on. It is scary for the person undergoing psychosis, and it is distressing for those who witness them, especially if they love them. However, the road ahead needs to be helping that person to seek psychiatric treatment while doing everything possible to keep them calm and feeling loved. My Blog on the L.E.A.P. method gives some pointers on how to help someone undergoing psychosis.