by: Shervan K Shahhian, Liberty Psychological Association

Symptoms of Psychosis:

A person who develops psychosis will have their own unique group of symptoms and feelings, and experiences, according to their own circumstances.

There are 3 main symptoms that are connected with a psychotic episode:

• Confused and disturbed thoughts.
• Delusions.
• Hallucinations.

Hallucinations that are associated to Psychosis:

Hallucinations are where someone feels, sees, smells, hears, or tastes things that are false and do not exist outside their mind:

• Sight: seeing colors, shapes or people that do not exist.
• Sounds: hearing voices or other sounds that do not exist.
• Touch: a false feeling of being touched when there is nobody there.
• Smell: an odor that other people cannot smell and that does not exist.
• Taste: a false taste, or where there is nothing in the mouth.

Delusions that are associated to Psychosis:

A delusion is where a person has an solid belief in something untrue and does not exist.

A person with persecutory delusions may believe that there are individuals or groups of people that have plans to hurt or even kill them.

An individual with grandiose delusions that believes they have a lot of power and or authority. As an example, they may think they’re the supreme leader of a country or they have the power to bring the dead back to life.

People who do experience psychotic episodes are often unaware that their hallucinations or delusions are not real, which may cause them to feel scared or distressed.

Confused and Disturbed Thoughts that are associated with Psychosis:

An individual with psychosis may experience disturbed thoughts, confusion, and disrupted cycle of thought. These signs may include:

• Fast and constant speech.
• Disturbed speech: For example, they may jump from one topic to another at mid-sentence, they are very hard to follow.
• All of a sudden loss of their train of thought, resulting in an sudden pause in their talk or activity.

Postnatal Psychosis:

Postnatal psychosis, also known as puerperal psychosis, is a very serious form of postnatal depression. this is a type of depression that some women may experience after giving birth.

It’s estimated that postnatal psychosis affects one woman out of one thousand women after giving birth. This type of depression most commonly occurs during the 1st couple of weeks after giving birth.

Postnatal psychosis could generally affect women who already have a mental health issues, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

As a combination of symptoms of psychosis, symptoms of postnatal psychosis may also include changes in the person’s mood:

• A high, up mood known as mania, for example, feeling elevated, talking too much, and thinking too much or too rapidly.
• A low, down mood, for example, feeling down, sad, a lack of energy, loss of appetite, and not being able to fall asleep.

One should contact their General Practitioner, (M.D.) immediately if a person or a loved one may be having developed postnatal psychosis as this is a Medical Emergency. If seeing their General Practitioner is not possible, one should Call 9-1-1 or call their local Emergency Services.

If one think there’s an immediate danger of harm or self harm, they must Call 9-1-1 and ask for Help.

Psychosis and Psychopath Are Not the Same:

The terms “psychopath” and “psychosis” sound similar, but should not be confused.

A person with psychosis has a short-term or an temporary or an acute situation that, if treated, can often lead to a complete recovery.

A psychopath is a person with an antisocial personality disorder which is a much more serious condition, which means:

• Psychopaths don’t feel empathy for humans and animals, they don’t have the capacity to understand how others feel.
• Psychopaths are manipulative in nature.
• Psychopaths often do not care for the consequences of their actions.
• Psychopaths often lie.

Individuals with an antisocial personality may sometimes be a physical threat to society, because they can be criminally violent like murders, mass murders and terrorist. Most people with psychosis usually tend to harm themselves and not others.