Psychosis is characterized by false associations with reality, with hallucinations and paranoia as the main manifestation. This condition is seen mainly in patients with alcoholism, drug addiction, brain diseases or mental disorders.
What is psychosis?
Psychosis is not considered a disease but rather a group of symptoms of mental disorders. Some literature uses the term “psychotic disease” to refer to all conditions in which psychosis is typical. Psychosis is characterized by false associations with reality, the most common of which are delusions and hallucinations. In addition, patients may also develop other symptoms depending on the specific cause.
Psychosis is a symptom of serious mental disorders. Symptoms can be short-lived but can also be persistent and long-lasting. People with psychosis will have hallucinations, paranoia that do not match reality. At the same time, there is a strong belief in delusions and hallucinations, despite the fact that there is convincing evidence against this.
Psychosis not only affects the patient himself, but also causes a lot of trouble for those around him. Sometimes, delusions and hallucinations can cause the patient to agitate and engage in violent, aggressive behavior.
Manifestations of psychosis
Psychosis is characterized by false and inconsistent associations with reality. The patient may experience hallucinations or (and) hallucinations.
1. Paranoia
Delusions are judgments and beliefs that are false and inconsistent with reality. The patient insists that his doubts and thoughts are true even though this contradicts reality. Delusions have diverse content and are divided into the following forms:
Jealousy delusions are one of the most common delusions
- Jealousy delusions: Jealous delusions are the most common form of delusions. People with this disease always believe that their lovers and partners are unfaithful and develop relationships with people of the opposite sex. The patient is overly controlling of his partner and is constantly questioning his schedule and working hours. Excessive and unfounded jealousy makes your partner feel suffocated, secretive and often proactively divorce. When the partner does not confess to the affair, the patient may become angry and engage in violent behaviors (beating spouse, children, breaking furniture, etc.).
- Delusion of being loved: The delusion of being loved is a strong belief that one is being loved by someone special. The patient intentionally stalked, monitored, and continuously sent letters and messages to the subject. These behaviors cause a lot of trouble because the patients themselves are constantly accused of harassment.
- Delusions of pride: Delusions of pride are one of the most common types of delusions. The patient has a belief that he or she has more talents than others or has great discoveries and initiatives. Many people even believe that they possess supernatural magic. Patients stubbornly hold this belief when reality reflects the exact opposite.
- Persecution delusion: Persecutory delusion is characterized by the patient’s belief that he or she is being watched by a secret organization to combat, spy, harass, and even kill. People with this type of paranoia are always suspicious of those around them and never trust others. Because of the thought of being persecuted, the patient sometimes acts violently towards the persecutor (imaginary).
- Somatic delusions: Somatic delusions are associated with the patient’s belief that he or she is parasitic, deformed, and defective.
Delusions do not significantly affect the patient’s functioning. However, these delusions cause the patient to face difficulties in marriage, work, stigma, alienation and isolation.
2. Illusion
Besides delusions, hallucinations are also typical symptoms of psychosis. Hallucinations are sounds, images, smells, and sensations that are not real but are fully perceived by the patient. The most common of which are visual and auditory hallucinations.
Patients may experience hallucinations with various manifestations from visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, tactile hallucinations, etc.
Similar to delusions, the patient completely believes what he hears, sees and feels despite the efforts of those around him to explain. Sometimes the patient hears hallucinatory voices that induce suicide or harm those around them.
3. Accompanying symptoms
In addition to hallucinations and delusions, patients with psychosis will also experience some of the following symptoms:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Thinking slow, unclear
- Having problems with communication, living in isolation and social isolation
- Not interested in personal care and hygiene
- Disorganized behavior
- Loss of emotion, limited expression of emotions, gradually decreasing interest and interest in everything around
- The way of speaking lacks logic, often changing topics, speaking speed is fast but not clear. However, there are also cases where the voice becomes soft, such as a whisper, slow speech, and words are incoherent and obscure.
- May be accompanied by symptoms such as loss of appetite, poor appetite, insomnia, weakness, headache, menstrual disorders, etc.
Psychosis is characterized by hallucinations and delusions. The accompanying symptoms will depend on the type of psychosis and the severity of the illness in the individual patient.
Psychotic classification
Psychosis is divided into several categories including:
1. Short-term psychosis (reactive psychosis)
Short-term psychosis occurs after experiencing a serious event such as sudden death of a loved one, natural disaster, war, accident, bankruptcy, deception, abuse, etc. The patient develops delusions (usually persecutory delusions, somatic delusions, etc.).
In addition, some people may experience visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations. Symptoms begin suddenly but last for a short period of time from a few days to a few weeks. Short-term psychosis may also be associated with some stress-related disorders.
2. Psychosis due to alcoholism, substance addiction
Psychosis due to alcoholism and substance abuse is a fairly common form of psychosis. Alcohol, drugs, and marijuana themselves are central nervous system depressants. Psychosis due to alcohol, substance addiction will manifest as hallucinations, paranoia accompanied by some symptoms of addiction.
Psychosis can occur due to addiction to alcohol, drugs, etc.
Psychosis due to alcoholism, substance addiction will appear auditory hallucinations instead of visual or tactile hallucinations. Hallucinations are cursing, threatening, and slandering the patient and occur when the patient is fully awake. The hallucinogens lose the ability to judge and dominate all of the patient’s behavior. Unreal words constantly echo in the head, making the patient uncomfortable, worried and sometimes irritable.
Delusions in patients with alcoholic psychosis are mainly delusions of harm and delusions of jealousy. These delusions cause the patient a lot of trouble in life. Moreover, due to cognitive decline due to the effects of alcohol and drugs, patients often have violent behaviors towards their wives, children and family members.
3. Psychosis due to actual disease
Psychosis due to actual pathology is a condition in which hallucinations and delusions appear due to brain damage. Paranoia, hallucinations in this case have quite diverse content.
Tổn thương não có thể là khiến cho não bộ bị rối loạn dẫn đến hình thành ảo giác và hoang tưởng
Organic psychosis most commonly occurs in people with the following conditions:
- Tumor or cyst in the brain
- Alzheimer
- Cerebral blood vessel damage due to stroke
- Head injury
- Brain infections caused by HIV, syphilis and other bacteria
- Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease…
4. Psychosis due to mental disorders
Psychosis is a common symptom group of mental disorders. Most patients with psychotic symptoms are more difficult to treat and have a worse prognosis than the rest.
Psychosis most commonly occurs in the following mental disorders:
- Bipolar Disorder: Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by low to high emotional swings. This disease has a chronic progression, easy to recur and cannot be definitively treated. During the course of the disease, patients may experience a group of psychotic symptoms. Bipolar disorder with psychosis is more severe and takes longer to treat.
- Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with typical symptoms of psychosis (paranoia, hallucinations), juvenile language, hypertonic behavior, adolescent behavior, and blunting. emotions, loss of will, and poor language. For this disease, psychosis is one of the main groups of symptoms. In particular, patients often experience delusions of being harmed, delusions of pride and delusions of jealousy.
- Delusional disorder: Delusional disorder characterized by false beliefs that persist for at least 1 month. This pathology is diagnosed only when it is not accompanied by other symptoms of schizophrenia.
- Psychotic Depression: Depression is the most common emotional disorder today. Patients with psychotic depression may experience both hallucinations and delusions. The content of the delusions and hallucinations in patients with depression is often commanding words, scolding, humiliation or self-incrimination. Most people with psychotic depression have a high suicide rate. Therefore, the family should pay special attention when the patient shows unusual signs.
In addition to the mental disorders mentioned above, psychosis can also occur in a number of other medical conditions.
Causes of psychosis
To date, the exact cause of psychotic symptoms has not been identified. Because psychosis can occur in cases with or without physical damage to the brain.
Here are some of the factors that have been identified as being associated with psychosis:
- Genetic
- Psychological trauma (experience a devastating war, sexual abuse, sudden death of a loved one, etc.)
- Substance use and alcohol abuse
- Pre-existing mental disorders
- Mental life is unstable, has no spiritual support and often faces stress
Is psychosis dangerous?
Psychosis does not significantly affect the patient’s functioning. However, delusions and hallucinations can cause many problems in life. The extent of the effect will depend on the type of delusions and hallucinations that the patient experiences.
In general, psychosis will cause the following complications:
- Difficulty at work – especially for people with delusions of grandeur.
- Conflicts in married life due to paranoid jealousy, paranoia of being harmed.
- Patients spend a lot of time on superfluous behaviors such as stalking, stalking others for fear of being assassinated or thinking that the subject has feelings for themselves.
- People with body delusions, delusions of being harmed will always be in a state of stress and anxiety. This long-term condition sometimes develops into depression, anxiety disorders.
- Psychosis can lead to suicidal behaviors – especially in patients with depression.
- Increasing the rate of alcohol addiction, substance addiction, etc.
- Some paranoia can cause patients to become panic, agitated, urge to commit violent acts that harm themselves and those around them.
In addition to psychosis, accompanying symptoms also significantly affect the patient’s health and quality of life. In some cases, psychosis cannot be completely cured but can be controlled through a number of methods.
Methods of treating psychosis
For psychosis, treatment usually has a good response. However, the accompanying symptoms are sometimes ineffective, tending to be persistent and persistent. Currently, treatment for psychosis will include the following methods:
1. Pharmacotherapy
Medication is the preferred treatment for psychosis. Medications can improve delusions and hallucinations, thereby preventing agitation, violent behavior, and suicide. In addition, medication is also helpful in controlling accompanying symptoms.
Antipsychotics are used to treat psychotic disorders such as hallucinations, delusions, hypertonia, etc.
Medications used to treat psychosis:
- Antipsychotics: Antipsychotics (Valproate, Carbamazepine, Haloperidol, …) are the main group of drugs in the treatment of psychosis. The drug is effective in improving hallucinations, delusions, and hypertonia.
- Sedatives: The hallucinations and paranoia caused by psychosis will make the patient easily agitated, panic and sometimes lead to violent behavior. Therefore, sedatives will also be used during treatment. For narcotic sedatives such as benzodiazepines, the drug will be used at a low dose then gradually increased and the dose needs to be gradually reduced before stopping completely to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
- Antidepressants: Psychotic patients with symptoms of sadness, melancholy, anxiety, pessimism, etc., dominated by delusions and hallucinations, will be given antidepressants. The most commonly used classes of drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants.
- Other drugs: Depending on the patient’s symptoms, the doctor may also prescribe some other drugs such as beta-blockers, vitamin and mineral supplements, mood stabilizers, etc.
2. Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy plays an equally important role in the treatment of psychosis. This therapy will help patients reduce delusions and accompanying symptoms. If medication helps to quickly relieve symptoms, psychotherapy helps to manage and control the disease effectively.
Besides pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy is also an important method in the treatment of psychosis
Currently, psycho-behavioral therapy is the most effective and widely applied method in the treatment of psychosis. This therapy is often combined with medication for best results.
In fact, psychosis is just a group of symptoms of mental disorders. Therefore, psychotherapy will depend on the specific condition of each patient. Psychologists will assess the health of each case to choose the most appropriate and effective approach.
3. The role of the family
In the treatment of psychosis, the family plays a very important role. The care and support from the family will help the patient have faith in life, aim for good values and build for themselves clear life goals.
In addition, the family is also a bridge for the patient to integrate into the community, thereby increasing job opportunities and reducing the risk of living dependent on others. A healthy living environment also helps patients stay away from alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc.
Depending on the health status of each patient, doctors and psychologists will give specific advice to the family on how to care. Because patients themselves are mentally unstable and psychologically different from healthy people.
Psychosis will get worse if left untreated. Therefore, families and people around need to pay attention to unusual symptoms so that the patient has the opportunity to be examined and treated promptly. Improving the quality of life for patients will also help reduce the burden on families and society and prevent unfortunate situations.
