Thursday, March 25, 2010

psychosis

What is psychosis?

according to wikipedia:

Psychosis (from the Greek ψυχή "psyche", for mind/soul, and -ωσις "-osis", for abnormal condition) means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". People suffering from psychosis are said to be psychotic.

Symptoms such as: can not tell what is real and what is not , hallucinations, delusions, confusion, difficulty in doing even ordinary activities.

When a close kin of mine went through having these symptoms, we were devastated,we thought its the end of her and that we can not do anything but accept such fate and suffer with her forever.

I tried to know what it is all about. When I learned that its treatable, I mustered some courage to do all I can do what is best for her.

Psychosis affects 3 in 100 people, and usually occurs for the first time between the ages of 15 and 30. Men often develop psychosis 5 to 10 years younger than women. In our case it all started from a severe stress due to worries, then followed by sleep deprivation and hearing of voices, sometimes angry voices which continued for a long period. She started singing, sometimes as early as three in the morning and even with a loud singing. Sometimes she could be mildly violent.

The first recourse which is not easy is decide to find help... and that means mental health clinic which nobody would ever want to go. To seek for help earlier from professionals such as psychiatric doctors is the best we can do. Psychosis if given immediate medical attention would be the best move so far.

To be continued