On this forum we often talk about more florid states of psychosis but I was wondering about more subtle signs of psychosis. Ones that might fly under the radar to an uninformed mind. I would say this is a state where the level of psychosis is ‘relatively’ mild compared to a more florid presentation. It can also be a pointer to your thinking being in the process of completely derailing.
Would welcome some thoughts on this even if to say "You’re talking out of your arse "
2 Likes
Tell away, I’m interested
A general detachment from things.
2 Likes
My nights turn into days and vice versa.
2 Likes
For me I would say paranoia without the bizarre content would be one example. Something that’s feasible but nevertheless highly unlikely. Severe social anxiety/avoidant behaviour as a subtle sign that things may have gone slightly off the rail. An imbalance of emotions ie feeling negative emotions with heightened intensity and yet pleasurable,positive emotions are blunted
3 Likes
The more “occult” my thoughts become the more trouble I’m in.
4 Likes
That was something they always asked me at the depot clinic where I Iived before. About my sleeping pattern. I think when you don’t work it’s quite easy though for your routine to go helter skelter.
2 Likes
I think I do it when I’ll as a means of isolating. If I am only up 10pm to 8am there is less scope for socialising.
1 Like
A good one @dandydinmot .
1 Like
I think when I start losing track of or even just plain losing time, that’s a big red flag. It means I’m dissociating and that’s really bad for staying in touch with reality. Also when I start withdrawing from my family, particularly my husband, it’s a warning sign. Then there’s the mild visual hallucinations where normal things just don’t quite look right. For example the people on TV look slightly animated or I think I can see the atoms moving in the bowl on the table. Also if I start obsess about unusual things that can be a warning.
I can understand the reluctance to socialise. Socialising can often be a too ‘full on’ thing where it’s easy to get mentally exhausted/overwhelmed.
I can relate to this @Firemonkey. I’m currently doing pretty well in comparison to what I’m like in a state of florid psychosis, but I don’t think it ever goes away completely, I think I still have some subtle signs of psychosis. The things I notice are that I have obsessive thoughts that I have done something bad, or offended or upset someone, but it’s not specific enough to think through rationally so I’m never sure if my worries are justified or just paranoid, but they are distressing. I also have minor hallucinations where I catch something moving or see things out of the corner of my eyes, but when I look again they are gone. Sometimes I think I hear voices but they are faint and occasional. So yes, I think I still have some signs of psychosis without being floridly psychotic. Life isn’t easy, but it’s a hell of a lot more manageable at this level than it is at full blown level.
also, “coming too” standing in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of the night, during a rain storm, holding a handful of giant night crawlers with a stranger yelling at me “are you alright miss” and having no clue what I’m doing there and what happened to the river and all the trees that were just there a minute ago, that’s a subtle clue that I might be getting a little psychotic. Just saying
Everything seems strange. I feel confused. I feel like I’m viewing my life through my eyes without being present - that I’m not me, and things I do and say just happen. I feel like I have an important purpose, but I’m not sure that I know what it is. I question everything, and I start to obsess over strange things. I feel like I’m always staring down on life from a precipice, and that any moment, I will have some kind of breakthrough or groundbreaking epiphany.
5 Likes
To use a green- ok, amber, red- things really off the rail analogy: I would say I’m often in amber.
That sounds a little manic. Are you schizoaffective?
No, I have normal sz. I do have hypomanic episodes without meds, so they are tied in with my psychosis, but I can be in this state without any elevated mood or increased energy. It’s just the psychotic part of me.
1 Like
I always presented very subtle signs because I could hide my symptoms well. For me the subtle things were
-Too scared to sleep in my own room at night well into my teens (Literally didn’t stop sneaking into other places to sleep until I was 17 and had finally gained insight into my psychosis)
-Being unwashed or having soap still in my hair through a large chunk of my adolescence (was terrified of bathroom, thought evil spirits were in there)
-Fears that seem odd (ie as a child having mom remove flower painting from my room bc of “monster faces” in it, or freaking out at my parents in hs bc they bought me another mirror but I was already terrified of mirrors bc I thought my reflection was evil and could kill me, they didn’t know that so didn’t get why I was so against the mirror they got)
-Kept a large number of religious objects by my bedside in hs, bible, holy water, rosary, etc
-Signs of interest in the occult, ouija board, tarot cards, windows of demonic sigils pulled up on computer (it was awkward explaining that one to my mom lol)
-At one point I put oil and salt around my doors and windows (The lighting had to catch it just right to be able to see it, if my parents had noticed it it should have raised questions)
-a LOT of isolation
-Seeming very out of it, absentminded, not paying attention in class, may be writing furiously or drawing strange symbols/scenes (when psychotic I become extremely absorbed in delusional thinking)
-Covered my cameras in college during a psychotic episode as well as holes in the room bc was scared someone would look through, I could have passed it off as being cautious w the cameras like you said and the holes I covered w to do sticky notes so it seemed more inconspicuous
I think that’s it mainly
1 Like
Why were you too scared to sleep in your room??
i feel like i always had precursors to schizophrenia growing up. i always had horrible nightmares that led to paranoia and fear so i was terrified of sleeping because i was sure my nightmares were coming for me. it went beyond normal childhood fear, it led to real debilitating insomnia. once i hit my teen years i became incredibly suspicious of others, nothing bizarre but my paranoia was always bad. i was sure people were talking about me/hated me. tho my delusional thinking never got too bizarre outside of thinking aliens were monitoring me and a brief period when i was, like, 12 or so where i was sure demons were going to drag me to hell if i went to sleep, i was so scared for that period. also, hypersensitivity. im already very sensitive to surroundings and sounds and textures because of my autism but there would be times i would get SO sensitive to sounds, to how things looked, and that would always evolve into mild hallucinations. it would go from overanalyzing how things looked to seeing things that weren’t really there, from paying extra attention to background sounds to hearing things that weren’t there