General Psychotic Break (please Describe)

[DMerish]

The term "psychotic break" was used in another post. I googled the term, but was dissatisfied with the definitions that I found. All of them said that the person who has a psychotic break has delusions, (i.e. believes/thinks things one way when they are not) and that the person has various sorts of hallucinations. Can someone please expand more fully what happens, give examples of what they or someone they knew went through when they had a psychotic break, and/or provide warning signs that someone is close to having psychotic break?

Thanks
Drew~

 

[Abstract]

Hi Drew,

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will answer but I will do my best in the mean time.

A lot of people who experience psychosis don't have schizophrenia. People can have delusions, hallucinations and associated thinking for a short space of time as a result of chronic lack of sleep or severe stress for example. It can also happen due to medication side effects.

I actually think this has happened to me before but mildly and not for long.

For me at the time I was more paranoid than my usual PTSD paranoia, I was seeing things unrelated to my trauma (for example words would float off the page when I tried to read and I would attempt to catch them) , I was almost catatonic at times. These things can come along with severe depression and it seems they can happen with PTSD too.

I think what was being said on the other thread was that it is better not to push someone with PTSD to discuss their trauma without the proper backup and if the person is very unstable at the time as it can push them over the edge. What that edge would look like will vary for different people.

When they talk about impaired reality testing they essentially mean that the person does not have the capacity to realise it is a delusion or hallucination.

I hope that helps a little.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Signs I was headed into one...

Not speaking coherently. (This is what tipped off my therapist.)
Increased agitation beyond what was typical.
Increased anger.
Erratic behavior.

Once I was in one...

I saw things that weren't there.
I thought it was a different time.
I thought I was in a different place.

This doesn't give you much more than what you've found by googling. But, in such a state my memory wasn't up to par.

Those of us who have had a break and were hospitalized remember those constant questions... What is your name? What is the year? Where are you? And so on.... It was all an attempt to ground me and bring me back from wherever my mind was.

I'm sure others have more to add. This was my personal experience. Fortunately it only happened once; it was my rock bottom.

 

[DMerish]

Abstract and Solar ~ Thank you for your posts.

I think what I found when I googled the term was associated with schizophrenia and, therefore, that's why I was unclear what psychosis might look like otherwise, for someone with PTSD or severe depression. I really appreciate that you shared your experiences. I'm sorry about what you each went through, and hope it didn't continue for very long. I can imagine it would have been rather scary. After reading what you wrote, I now recognize I had a very minor incident (seeing cows cross the freeway late at night, in the city, during a very stressful period in my life when I wasn't getting sleep).

I defiantly got the message about not pushing someone.

Thanks again,
Drew ~

 

[Life_in_the_Mist]

If the post that you read it in was mine, I want to clarify that I am bipolar and my psychotic break was related to that as well as trauma issues. If that reassures you. Which is not to say that psychosis can't be part of PTSD.