What is Psychosis?
"Psychosis" is a broad term that covers many different symptoms and experiences.
Common symptoms include:
Hallucinations (seeing, hearing, feeling, or tasting things that other people do not)
Feeling overwhelmed by sensory information (lights seem too bright, noises too loud)
Difficulty filtering stimulation from the environment
Delusions & Paranoia (strongly held personal beliefs based on assumptions about reality that others may not share, and that may be distressing and confusing)
Difficulty organizing and communicating thoughts clearly
Difficulty doing daily activities (often includes problems with memory, attention, putting thoughts together)
Who experiences psychosis?
Anyone can experience psychosis.
Many people see or hear things that others don't, or have ideas that others do not share.
These experiences are only a problem when they are causing you or someone close to you significant distress, decline, or harm.
Psychosis affects 3 in 100 people, and usually occurs for the first time between the ages of 15 and 30. This is what we call a “first episode of psychosis”. Some people experience a version of symptoms that are more mild than those described above. These may indicate that a persons is at “clinical high risk” for psychosis.
Psychosis can be caused by a variety of medical illnesses, sleep deprivation, severe stress or trauma, drug reactions, genetic predisposition, and other factors. It may also result from, or accompany, a mood disorder such as major depression or bipolar disorder (in which there are dramatic swings in energy level, sleep patterns, mood and behavior).
