I have had schizophrenia for a while now, but I’m still a little confused about the term “psychotic episode.” As some of you might know, I have some periods of my life I can’t remember nearly at all, and I’ve noticed it’s the times when my psychotic symptoms were the worst, which is the only thing I really remember. How long do psychotic episodes usually last, and can they happen even on medicine? I have one specific period of time I remember that lasted for around a year I think, and my psychosis and delusions were so bad that I couldn’t even sleep in my own room. My parents had to move my entire bed into there room for months because I couldn’t sleep otherwise. The thing that confuses me though is that, from what I’ve read, a psychotic episode is a period where you lose touch with reality. Recently, I have almost completely stopped having the delusion of life being a simulation, which was a huge delusion for me for a long time. Now I’m confused though, because for a long time I completely believed without a doubt that life is a simulation and that I was being watched so that they could monitor how the simulation was affecting me. I completely believed people were reading my mind, even though I could function for the most part, and remember this time. Do you think I was having a psychotic episode the whole time I thought that I was doing well? Or can those just be breakthrough symptoms without it being a psychotic episode? I’m thinking maybe the medicine I’m on now (invega), which works the best for me out of every medicine I’ve tried for psychosis, needed a long time to work fully, and that’s why I’m just now starting to get rid of these delusions. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still not completely sure if life is a simulation, but it’s not a constant worry in my mind, and now I have doubts. It’s definitely different than it was last year.
Delusions seem so real. Whenever I am walking around by myself if I make eye contact with people even if they’re going past in cars I hear abusive messages from their minds. It makes me pretty paranoid and when it happens I sometimes forget it’s not real and I just need to ignore it.
As for telling when you’re psychotic, I function well when my meds are working ok but when I am psychotic the symptoms are so overwhelming I cannot escape my own mind.
My first two episodes were by far the worse so when I have them now they’re much more mild - I think that people are just making a fuss out of nothing as my idea of being psychotic for me is measured by when I have been at my worst
Thank you for your answer. I also have problems with eye contact, but it’s not because I hear messages, it’s because I get a very uncomfortable feeling. It kinda feels like an evil, threatening feeling, but it’s even with people I care about most. It started off with the belief that people could read my mind whenever I looked at them, but after that I believed it even without looking in their eyes. Also, yes, delusions seem so real. It’s really hard to figure out what’s a delusion and figure out when we’re having them without someone telling us. At least, it is for me.
I get the “life is a simulation” feeling when I’m off my meds. Feels like my brain is working too quickly, and “the simulation” can’t catch up with me, making me feel like everyone but me is computer generated. Makes me feel un-grounded.
I don’t care that this is a simulation, I just want to live a normal life and believe that other people are real (and they are.) So I’ll have to take antipsychotics for the rest of my life, probably.
Do you get a physical feeling that goes along with it? Like your touch sense is a little dull in a way? For me, I get this feeling, and also things will look different and sound different. Fake in a way. I don’t remember exactly when it started, but I’ve had this belief for a while, and it’s just now starting to calm down. It definitely gets worse when I’m off my medicine though. I am like you in the feeling like everyone else is part of the simulation part.
honestly, which i never think i was full blown psychotic (i was headed that way quickly though), but when my symptoms were most pronounced i totally normalized them all in my mind. i thoguht it was entirely rational that i thought my friends all hated me and were plotting against me with each other to humiliate me. i thought everyone was lying and it was because they hated me. people were staring at me in public, laughing at me and talking about me. i really believed those. never questioned hallucinations like seeing strips of light or color, just assumed it was normal. i had a bit more of a suspicion about my alien hallucinations, i was caught between truly believing them and knowing something was coming undone, so i finally told my doctor about the aliens and my fears and ive been on abilify since then. so to answer your question, im not really sure how to tell when im getting worse, but i do notice i start to get more agitated and sensitive to my surroundings before i get paranoid
For me, everything’s in pictures. But I think sometimes I don’t realize until I’m pulling out of it.
I start to feel anxious and un-grounded, like my reality is starting to unfold. Very unpleasant feeling.
When you feel like dying .
I can feel it in my head usually before the symptoms start. It’s an acquired sense. I used to get psychotic every day when I only took Geodon at night. I got used to it.
Now if I feel it coming on I pop an extra Geodon because chances are I forgot the morning dose.
i am the opposite when i am psychotic, i only use eye contact especially with strangers. ( weired eye contact)
i have chronic psychosis wich if i dont take my meds in a few days i end up in a hopspital.
i think there’s a huge difference between delusional thougths and loosing touch to reality.
i have delusional thoughts every day but i try to ignore them, remember i am not so sick
when you loose touch with reality somebody or even you will observe this, let’s hope it will not happen
When I have had psychotic episodes I cannot tell the difference between the delusional beliefs and hallucinations and reality. Everything is fused seamlessly together into one living experiential state of existence. Only after I go into remission and after some time has passed do I gain insight into the memory of the psychotic experience.
I know when my delusions are coming back when I stop sleeping, and I laugh hysterically at nothing. My delusions are usually accompanied by paranoia. The only delusion I have that seems ok at times is the being famous, but then I get paranoid, which then I try to ignore it until it dies down. My other delusions involve the military coming after me and being recorded. I’m told it’s not real, but it doesn’t feel that way to me.
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