What Is Psychosis?

What is Psychosis?

Merriam-Webster defines psychosis as a serious mental illness characterized by defective or lost contact with reality, often with hallucinations or delusions.

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During psychosis, a person’s thoughts, perceptions, and overall brain function are disrupted to a point where reality takes on its own form in the mind. From personal experience with psychosis, everything I experienced seemed as natural as any other day. There was no separation of what was real to those around me and what took place in my mind. In essence, psychosis became my reality, and I was living in it.  

Let’s dive into what hallucinations and delusions are. Growing up, I thought hallucinations were only from doing some serious drugs, and I’d never heard of delusions or psychos until my own bipolar 1 diagnosis.

Hallucinations are sensory perceptions without an actual external stimulus and usually arise from neurological disturbances. The disturbances can be in response to drugs or a result of schizophrenia, bipolar 1, and other disorders or diseases.

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To simplify, hallucinations are seeing things that aren’t there. What I didn’t realize was that hallucinations come in various forms. Here are some of the most common:

• Visual: Seeing something that doesn’t exist altogether or seeing something that does exist in a distorted manner. During my psychosis, I saw angels and demons, among other things.

• Auditory: This is hearing things that aren’t real. These can be complimentary or negative voices, animal sounds, or random noises like hissing or ticking. Any sound that is not present but experienced. For me, it was hearing things in my house at night that weren’t there. Along with the television saying obscene things to me and a few other examples I won’t go into.

• Olfactory: This is the perception of smelling odors that don’t exist. These smells are typically unpleasant, like rotten eggs, smoke, and decaying matter. I experienced the rotten egg smell and what I can only describe as death itself during my psychosis.

• Gustatory: Tasting something that is not present. My only experience with this type of hallucination was some watermelon my daughter and I were eating tasted rancid. She didn’t flinch, so I sat there and ate it, trying not to make a face.

• General Somatic Hallucinations: This is when someone experiences their whole body under attack, if you will. Things like bugs crawling under the skin or worms slithering inside the stomach. I fortunately never had to experience this one.  
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Delusions are something that is falsely or delusively believed. In psychology, it is a persistent false belief regarding the self, persons, or objects outside the self that is maintained despite the evidence to the contrary. To put it in simplified terms, it’s believing things that aren’t true, like someone is trying to harm you when they’re really not. Also, things like thinking you’re invincible, famous, or going to save the world. My delusions were believing I might be the next president and the nation's most influential pastor, among other things.

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Here are some of the most common types of delusions:

• Grandiose: Believing in outlandish things such as being famous, rich, or being assigned a religious quest. This was me. I believed I would be president of the United States and an influential pastor.

• Paranoid: This is believing someone is out to get them or they are being persecuted—also, me during psychosis. I thought someone was going to blow up my house to frame me so I couldn’t become president.

• Somatic: This type of delusion is believing something is wrong with a part of the body or a piece of them is missing. I have not experienced this, but I imagine this one is no picnic.

• Reference: The belief that messages are sent through television or radio. Also, believing people’s thoughts and actions are directed towards them. Can you see me raising my hand? Me again. I thought I could read people's minds along with the radio and the television talking to me. Neither, by the way, had anything nice to say.

• Bizarre Delusions: When a person believes in something physically impossible. I think these just come with the territory if you ask me.

• Delusional Jealousy: Believing a partner is unfaithful, despite it being impossible. I didn’t have to worry about this, but I imagine it would put a great deal of stress on a relationship.

• Misidentification syndrome: Believing someone you know has been replaced by an imposter. I also haven’t experienced this one, but I imagine it’s scary for everyone involved.

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Signs and Symptoms of Psychosis: People experiencing psychosis usually show signs of delusions and hallucinations. These can also be accompanied by incoherent speech and sometimes behavior that is inappropriate for the situation. Personally, I was unaware of all this and thought I was experiencing a new spiritual gift. I kept everything to myself until my normal functioning completely shut down. Even though it’s not always easy to spot, here are some things to look out for.

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Behavioral symptoms can include, but are not limited to the following:

• Enhanced levels of anxiety.

• Lack of concentration and motivation.

• An overall decrease in the ability to function as normal.

• Changes or swings in their emotional state.

• Paranoia

• Trouble thinking clearly and communicating.

• Changes in sleep habits, usually lack of sleep.

• Confused speech and general difficulty in communicating clearly.

• A sudden drop in productivity at work or school.

Usually, an initial psychotic episode with psychosis is unexpected and unpredictable. For my wife, my coworkers, and myself, it was anyway. Even if we had known all these signs and symptoms, we wouldn’t have known what was about to happen. As they say, hind sight is 20/20, but if you believe you or someone you know are experiencing these changes, contact a healthcare provider.

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Here are a couple ways psychosis can be treated.

• Medication: Typically, antipsychotic medication is used not only to “break” the psychos is but also to prevent future episodes. Sometimes it takes time to balance the dosage and the proper medication, so don’t give up. It gets better.

• Therapy: CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, has shown success in helping people who experience psychosis. You can read specifics HERE. Also, family therapy has been shown to decrease hospitalizations due to psychosis. When family members know what to look out for and how to respond, treatment can be implemented before the escalation of an event.

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There are also many support groups where you can share and not feel alone. NAMI is a good place to find local support, which can be found HERE.‍

Now that we’ve gone over what psychosis is let’s talk about what it’s not.

It does not mean people who have experienced or are affected by psychosis are “crazy.”

During a psychotic episode, people experience hallucinations and delusions. This makes it hard to separate reality from what is taking place in the theater of their minds, but it’s a diagnosable health problem. There are levels of severity like any other illness, but it can be effectively treated and managed.

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Psychosis does not necessarily make people violent or dangerous.

While psychosis alters behavior and can be scary for the person experiencing it and those around them, it doesn’t automatically mean they’ll be aggressive or dangerous. More often than not, they can be a danger to themselves because they aren’t sure what’s happening and can’t separate reality from their delusions and hallucinations.

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Psychosis or psychotic disorders do not prevent people from having normal lives.

There are many treatments and medications available that can reduce the severity and frequency of episodes. It may take some time to find the right balance of medication and establish a good support system, but once in place, nothing stands in the way of a normal life.

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It’s also not demonic possession or punishment, but that’s a whole different subject for another day.

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As a matter of fact, Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

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This verse doesn’t say, fear not, some of you. Or I will help and strengthen some of you. Psychosis can be scary, confusing, and hard to recover from for everyone involved. So why am I bringing God into this? The answer is simple. He created us in His likeness, and each of us has a purpose.

The problem is that most of us don’t know what our purpose is, and after walking through psychosis, it can be even harder to find if you're not looking in the right place. You now have a unique insight and opportunity to help others find balance and a fulfilling life after going through what you did. Whether it was your psychosis or a family member's or friend's experience you witnessed and walked through. Maybe part of your purpose is helping others find their light again.

If you say, “But I can’t see the light,” then my response is, “Be the light you wish to see.”