Often we use difficult words to describe psychological disorders. Psychosis is such a word. When we use different difficult words it can lead towards believing that the disorder is difficult to understand and often it gets a mysterious view. That is why it is important to understand that we are actually talking about emotional psychological problems in persons, reactions that can happen with everyone as long as the stress becomes big enough. Nevrosis are “soft” psychological disorders, psychosis are “heavy” psychological disorders.

Maybe you know someone close to you that have behaved strange in a way difficult to understand. Maybe they have heard voices. Or they imagine beeng punished or spied on. Maybe they dont sleep or have started to avoid people. Or the emotions beeng difficult to understand. These are just some of the symptoms that leads towards the doctor bringing forward a diagnose.

Psychosis disorder

Suddenly psychosis disorder gets a personal meaning. It is the name of the behaviour that has confused us and sometimes given fear and even made us angry. We react in different ways when we hear about this diagnose.Sometimes it leads to relief, to know at least that there is a reason for this behaviour, other times it gives a feeling of loss, usually this is bigger than the relief. Loss of the original person who used to be happy, friendly and secure and who we all thought had a bright future. Now this is another person, sad, worried, unpredictable and sometimes uncomfortable. Sometimes we will have the guilt, “Should I have done something, what wrong have I done, have I done this to him?” These reactions are usual for family and friends but first of all we question this: “What is psychosis disorder?”, “What caused it?”, “How will I tell others?” “What is the treatment?”. We will focus here on psychosis disorder and try to explain what psychosis is and what happensto the person who has it.

Psychosis is a confused condition of the mind. Psychiatrists claim that one is not ones disease of psychotic disorder. This is so because one is a sleep under the unity of fantasy and concentration. Just as with photosynthesis, where the plants and trees intake light so does the psychotic beeng do. Psychotic beengs are negative people who dishonour and kill – but psychiatry knows the psychotic beengs through their own relation with them who already have been sent to mental hospitals and have been medicated with antipsychotics. The ones who are out in the world are in their own condition when not under psychosis not seen to the world – when they perform criminal acts they might be seen but when the psychosis is removed from them their lack of realizing external souroundings and as well memory loss make them very “smart” in their hidings. There are thereby many psychotic persons who have not been medicated and treated who are out there performing criminal violence. A misunderstanding in psychiatry is that psychosis is an everlasting condition where some parts of their life is better but not totally removed from the state of concentrated fantasy.

Under psychosis ones mind is filled with worries and the nervesystem is filled with anxiety. Like a living sensitive stone of emotional blood. Like a tense soft energy of water. Psychologists heal psychosis today by various means, like antipsychotics. Antipsychotics were first used to calm down the behaviour of the psychotic patients. So what type of healing was there other than in fear binding them in inactivity? A person who has a negative thought must be healed by removing the thought. If the person wants to meditate on truth this is not always truth. But psychotic patients want to sleep in some sort of emptiness and through the emptiness attain a deeper sleep whereas they can seeze from fantasy through detachment and not through medication. Controlling a psychotic person into captivity of mental hospitals and controlling his mind is not something the psychotic patients like.

What is psychosis disorder?

Easy said psychosis is a confusion condition. Everyone can get so confused that it comes under the definition psychosis disorder, depending on external stress influences, life situation and individual personality growth and the way we deal with stress. As many other medical expressions psychosis comes from two greek words: “Psyche (psyxh) meaning mind and ossisom meaning disease. In such a confused state of mind one can have anxiety, sadness, discomfort, isolation and other signs of psychological disorders. The sensual perceptions are stronger and are changed. Sounds can be high, like when smoking cannabis, the room feels smaller and so on. When these problems are present over time the mentality leads towards a nervous brakedown with confusion or the psychosis disorder as a result of that.

Everyone can become seriously confused as when having psychosis as long as the stress is big enough. When someone gets sick and looses contact with reality we call it a psychotic experience. With time by getting proper treatment people get through psychotic episodes, some will never experience it again whilest others will have it sometimes in their lifes.

What are the symptoms of psychosis?
A symptom is a markable change showing we are not healthy. It is not always easy for a psychotic person to realize the symptoms. It is because the brain that should detect them are the part of the body that is actually sick. The main symptom can be described as a lack of ability to differencate ons enviroments and ones self. With increased anxiety the psychological defence brakes down and this can lead to psychosis disorder.

Usual symptoms of psychosis disorder are:
Confused state of mind, illusions, hallucinations, lack of motivation, changes in feelings. Also a psychotic patient will often have anxiety, the symptoms are developed slowly, some develop them faster than others.

Psychotic illusions: This is when a person have a wrong view on reality, like beeng spied on by the CIA, by seeng a person read a newspaper in a certain way one believes one will give birth to the new Christ, that one is talked about in the news on the TV or radio and so on.

Paranoid reality views: A idea of beeng spied on or chosen by a destructive force.
Big mans ideas: Believe one has special powers, like beeng an important religious leader, politician or scientist.

What are the causes?
Even after 100 years of studies of psychosis psychiatry still dont know much about the disorder. A psychosis they say is caused by stress and the confusion is the cause of changes on how the brain works. When a person has a psychotic disorder the signals of the brain that should send information are not working properly. It can be caused by a cheminal ubalance in the brain, medicine used for psychosis works so that they chemicaly make a stability to the nerve transmitters. Cannabis or drug use like amphetamin, LSD, cokain and mushrooms can lead to psychosis. Psychiatry is actually just in the beginning of realziing the psychosis disorder. Until psychiatry sees all together the same biological structure of cells of plants and what happens during photosynthesis there will be no solution.

 

No one knows what causes a person to be addicted to the Internet, but there are several factors that have been proposed as contributing to Internet addiction. One theory concerns the mood-altering potential of behaviors related to process addictions. Just as a person addicted to shopping may feel a “rush” or pleasurable change in mood from the series of actions related to a spending spree— checking one’s credit cards, driving to the mall, going into one’s favorite store, etc.— the person with an Internet addiction may feel a similar “rush” from booting up their computer and going to their favorite web sites. In other words, some researchers think that there are chemical changes that occur in the body when someone is engaging in an addictive behavior. Furthermore, from a biological standpoint, there may be a combination of genes that make a person more susceptible to addictive behaviors, just as researchers have located genes that affect a person’s susceptibility to alcohol.

Why it happend?

In addition to having features of a process addiction, Internet use might be reinforced by pleasurable thoughts and feelings that occur while the person is using the Internet. Although researchers in the field of addiction studies question the concept of an “addictive personality” as such, it is possible that someone who has one addiction may be prone to become addicted to other substances or activities, including Internet use. People with such other mental disorders or symptoms as depression, feelings of isolation, stress, or anxiety, may “self-medicate” by using the Internet in the same way that some people use alcohol or drugs of abuse to self-medicate the symptoms of their mental disorder.

From a social or interpersonal standpoint, there may be familial factors prompting use of the Internet.

For example, a person might “surf the Web” to escape family conflict. Another possibility is that social or peer dynamics might prompt excessive Internet use. Some affected persons may lack the social skills that would enable them to meet people in person rather than online. Peer behavior might also encourage Internet use if one’s friends are using it. Modeling may play a role—users can witness and experience how others engage in Internet use and then replicate that behavior. The interactive aspects of the Internet, such as chat rooms, e-mail, and interactive games like Multi-User Dungeons and Dragons (MUDS), seem to be more likely to lead to Internet addiction than purely solitary web surfing.

One question that has not yet been answered concerning Internet addiction is whether it is a distinctive type of addiction or simply an instance of a new technology being used to support other addictions. For example, there are gambling casinos on the Internet that could reinforce a person’s pre-existing gambling addiction. Similarly, someone addicted to shopping could transfer their addiction from the local mall to online stores. Persons addicted to certain forms of sexual behavior can visit pornography sites on the Internet or use chat rooms as a way to meet others who might be willing to participate in those forms of behavior. Researchers may need to determine whether there is such a disorder as “pure” Internet addiction.

 

Since Internet addiction disorder is a relatively new phenomenon, there is little research on the effectiveness of treatment procedures. Some professionals advocate abstinence from the Internet. Others argue that it may be unrealistic to have a person completely end all Internet use. As society becomes more and more dependent on computers for business transactions, educational programs, entertainment, and access to information as well as interpersonal communication, it will be difficult for a computer-literate person to avoid using the Internet. Learning how to use the Internet in moderation is often the main objective in therapy, in a way analogous to the way that people with eating disorders need to come to terms with food. Many of the procedures that have been used to treat Internet addiction have been modeled after other addiction treatment programs and support groups.

 

How to help?

If a person’s Internet addiction disorder has a biological dimension, then such medication as an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug may help them with these aspects of the addiction. Psychological interventions may include such approaches as changing the environment to alter associations that have been made with Internet use, or decrease the reinforcement received from excessive Internet use. Psychological interventions may also help the person identify thoughts and feelings that trigger their use of the Internet. Interpersonal interventions may include such approaches as social skills training or coaching in communication skills. Family and couple therapy may be indicated if the user is turning to the Internet to escape from problems in these areas of life.

Relapsing into an addictive behavior is common for anyone dealing with addiction disorders. Recognizing and preparing for relapse is often a part of the treatment process. Identifying situations that would trigger excessive Internet use and generating ways to deal with these situations can greatly reduce the possibility of total relapse.

Like some fantastical tale from Doctor Who or Torchwood, Bridgend in wales England has seen a shocking pattern emerge amongst its teen society. To date 13 young people have taken their lives. Media speculation suggests that social networking sites like Bebo may enabling members to gorify the deaths.

This excerpt is taken from Telegraph.co.uk:

Bryony Gordon reports from Bridgend, the town where seven young people have committed suicide

Under a sky that is an unappealing mix of muddy brown, tinged with grey, an old man treads carefully past the charity shops along Nolton Street, in the centre of Bridgend. A couple of gloomy-faced teenagers, in Reebok Classics and hooded tops, hang out in front of the cut-price fashion stores, but otherwise the place is deserted. It is 9am and a thick mist swathes parts of this small town on the edge of the South Wales valleys, reducing visibility to a few feet. It is a ghost town in more ways than you could imagine.

Over the past year, Bridgend has been stunned by the suicides of seven of its young people. Yesterday morning every person in the Aroma Café was poring over a newspaper, absorbing details of the latest tragedy.

Seventeen-year-old Natasha Randall, or Tasha as she was known, hanged herself in her bedroom a week ago today as her father, Kelvin, and stepmother, Katrina, busied themselves downstairs. Her smiling face beams out of the pages as she makes a mock gangster gesture with her hands. Behind her, her good friend Liam Clarke does the same. Liam, 20, is also dead. He hanged himself the day after Boxing Day.

Liam was also a friend of Gareth Morgan. They both drank at a local pub, The West House. The 27-year-old father of one was found dead, having taken his own life on January 5. Before Gareth, Liam and Natasha there was Zachary Barnes, an angel-faced boy of 17 who was discovered hanging from a washing line at a block of flats in August last year.

Thomas Davies, 20, hanged himself from a tree on February 20, 2007. It was just two days before the funeral of his close schoolfriend David Dilling, 19, who had also hanged himself earlier that month. David’s best friend was 18-year-old Dale Crole, who went missing in September 2006. His badly decomposed body was found four months later on January 5, 2007 – a year to the day that Gareth committed suicide. Many in Bridgend wonder if they have yet seen the end. Indeed, within 24 hours of Natasha’s death two of her friends attempted to take their lives, though fortunately both failed.

The fact that all seven of those who died were somehow linked has raised questions about a suicide pact. Some have even gone so far as to propose the chilling theory that the propose were part of an internet suicide cult. Several of those who have died had pages on Bebo, the social networking website, and had posted messages on each other’s ”memorial walls” – virtual books of condolence.

The truth, say residents of Bridgend, is less sinister, yet no less bleak. As one girl I spoke to outside Bridgend College told me yesterday: “Suicide is just what people do here because there is nothing else to do.”

It is a depressing statement, but one born out by statistics – Bridgend has the highest rate for young male suicide in Britain – and by anecdotal evidence gathered on the streets of the town. Almost everybody I spoke to knew of someone who had attempted suicide.

The girl outside the college – where Natasha took Care and Childhood Studies until a week ago – knew Liam and also told me about her friend Jonathan Reynolds, 15, who had thrown himself in front of a train in January 2006 after being bullied.

I also met Kyle, 20, a sweet young man who had turned to youth work after “holding a knife to my wrists”. He told me that he’d stopped a friend from taking an overdose when he walked in on her. ”Thankfully she’d only taken four pills at the time. That in itself was because of another friend of ours, who was in hospital after taking an overdose.”

I met 21-year-old Joe Courtney outside the police station. He knew Dale, David (or Dai as he called him), Thomas and Zachary. He was on medication for anxiety – Prozac, he said – after trying to take his life in three different ways: hanging, cutting his wrists, and jumping in front of a train. “Mention suicide to anyone and there are plenty to know about around here. People are sort of desensitised to it.”

Then there was 17-year-old Katie, hanging around Nolton Arcade during her lunch break from a business course, who told me about a friend’s father who had jumped off a bridge last year. “It’s become like a bit of an everyday thing. When the first one happened I was shocked but now it just seems normal, fashionable almost. I don’t know. It’s that time of the year, isn’t it?”

For most people, “that time of the year” brings the odd grumble and moan, not a death wish. Yet speak to the people of Bridgend and they seem almost resigned to hearing about yet another person who has taken their life. “It’s almost like: when’s the next one?” said Amy Leigh, a 17-year-old student at Bridgend College.

How can this be? Why did so many of these youngsters feel so desperate that taking their own lives was the only option? “There is nothing to do here – nothing – but maybe go out at night and get drunk,” said Danielle, 17, who knew Liam. “There are lots of people on drugs, too,” added Lauren, 19.

“It’s really difficult to get a job here,” said 16-year-old Jasmin. “Most of them now go to people from abroad. I really do feel sometimes like I will never get out of here.”

Like many towns in South Wales, Bridgend, which has a population of 40,000, suffered badly from the closure of the mines. The headquarters of Lidl, the super-cheap food store, is based here, and Ford and Sony have manufacturing bases. But today it is known as “the town beyond Tesco”, thanks to the superstore on its outskirts. With Cardiff just a short drive to the east and Swansea to the west, there are few reasons to come to Bridgend – and many to leave.

It is the kind of place where pubs pin lists of people banned from entering on their doors. When I visit a local youth focus group, the woman running it tells me that if I’d come an hour earlier “you would have seen a drugs bust outside”. As I talk to a group of girls, one sneers ”smackhead” at some passing boys. Another man warns the Telegraph photographer to put his camera away or “risk getting knifed”.

There used to be five youth focus groups in Bridgend – places where teenagers could go for counselling and advice – but funding was withdrawn and now there is only the one. There is another haven for the town’s young people, however. Solid Rock is a youth centre on the edge of the Nolton Road, a drop-in centre open every lunchtime and some evenings. Managed by Lyn James, a middle-aged, softly spoken man with white hair, it was set up by a local church 10 years ago. Yesterday lunchtime there were 20 or so teenagers playing darts and pool and surfing the net. “There is obviously a problem here in Bridgend but nobody has any answers. They have set up a task force [of schools, the NHS and police] to try to tackle it. You just wonder what you can do to help,” says James.

The scene at Solid Rock is heart-breaking. Four teenagers sit at a table. They do not talk to one another; perhaps they never have. They are loners and this is the only place they feel they can come during lunch breaks. But the seven who have killed themselves did not all fit into this category.

“There isn’t a type to commit suicide, I suppose,” says Adam Lloyd, a close friend of Gareth Morgan. “But Gareth definitely wasn’t the type. He was the joker in the pack. If there was ever a party he’d be the one running around naked. And he was popular with the ladies. He was great at football. The night before he died he picked up his kit for the pub team.”

We meet at the pub where Gareth used to hang out. Over the bar hangs a Welsh flag bearing his nickname, Muggsy. “There is no way Gareth was part of an internet suicide pact,” continues Lloyd, 28. “He was completely computer illiterate – the amount of times I had to put things on eBay for him you wouldn’t believe – and he only knew Liam [Clarke] to say hello to in the pub.

“The truth is that there is no support in this town for people who need help. Gareth was a lad and as a lad maybe he didn’t know how to deal with any feelings of depression and let them out. There is clearly a problem in this town and yet there is no support. Where are the Samaritans posters? Maybe if Gareth had walked past one on the way home from here the night before he died, he might still be alive today.”

 

More and more people are getting addicted to technology, more and more people also experience sleep disturbances. Not experiencing difficulty to sleep due to busy using a cell phone, but sending random text messages without knowing while you’re asleep.

Bad morning

This behavior is referred to as “sleep texting” or sending text messages while sleeping. Under the mechanism, the behavior of this sleep disorders is grouped in the same category by walking during sleep (sleep walking), delirium (sleep talking) or having sex while sleeping (seksomnia).

“Usually I roll back and forth in bed for 2-3 hours before actually falling asleep,” said Elizabeth Hammonds, a 16-year-old, according to MSNBC, Monday (11/21/2011). Once Hammonds is asleep, something unexpected happened. If others start talking, experience nightmares or sleepwalks, she does something that is actually difficult to do while you sleep, which is typing and sending text messages. Hammonds did not realize his behavior at all, until her friends complained the next day for receiving unclear text messages from the girl. Hammonds did not believe initially, but all the evidence was recorded in the cell phone. “You send a text at 3 am and I don’t understand what you mean,” said her friend. Hammonds types and sends text messages randomly to her friends, in fact she sometimes sends longer texts through an email. Her mother, Betty Hammonds is worried that her son would send things that are not appropriate given today there are a lot of cases of “sexting” or obscene text message.

Sleep health expert, Dr. Marcus Schmidt acknowledges the current tendency to have sleep texting tends to increase among teenagers. Another cause is not due to addiction to technology, to the extent that the cell phone are also taken to bed and not turned off. “Four out of five children who have cell phones always carry their cell phone to bed. While those who actually turns it off are only one of 10 children,” said Dr. Schmidt. Dr. Schmidt said, sleep texting behavior tends to increase when the sufferers do not sleep soundly or when they experience lack of sleep. When they do not sleep soundly, they tend to be restless, the presence of cell phones in bed can stimulate motor reaction to reach out and use it. To be able to reduce sleep texting behavior, Dr. Schmidt suggested that children and teenagers do not stay up too late, so that they can sleep more soundly. In addition, the phone should be placed as far away from range, or turn it off during sleep.

Some college students suffer from Internet addiction, unable to step away from the computer or put down mobile devices even for a day. 84% of college counselors agree that Internet Addiction Disorderis legitimate, but at the same time, 93% of them have not been fully trained to diagnose Internet addiction, and 94% have insufficient training for Internet addiction treatment. The result? Falling grades, physical problems, and even clinical addiction.

Internet addiction is a real problem for college students and teens today, and here are several trends that are worrisome.

1. Students have feelings similar to drug and alcohol addiction

200 students were asked to abstain from all media for one day, and were then asked to blog about their experiences. Words the students used to describe their feelings during the restriction period were the same words associated with a substance abuse addiction: “withdrawal, frantically craving, very anxious, antsy, miserable, jittery, crazy.” It seems that these students are addicted to media, particularly in its online form.

2. College students are especially prone to Internet Behavior Dependence

A college student case study revealed that college students are a “population of special concern” when it comes to Internet addiction, and they are extremely vulnerable due to psychological and environmental factors in their lives. When faced with an Internet addiction, college students have a hard time forming their identity and building intimate relationships. Online, students can “develop relationships devoid of the anxiety found in face-to-face relationships,” and they “can take on any persona they desire, without fear of judgment on appearance or personal mannerism, and can avoid racial and gender prejudice.”

3. Online poker is widespread on college campuses

Online poker joins two addictions together: gambling and online interaction, so its use on college campuses is especially worrisome. The University of Pennsylvania predicts that over 20% of college students play online poker at least once a month. Although it can be a fun game, and many students may be able to maintain healthy lives while enjoying playing online poker, some simply can’t. At the University of Pennsylvania, researchers noted that among college gamblers that played weekly, over half of them had a serious problem with the habit.

4. Students can’t go one day without the World Wide Web

When 1,000 college students took part in an international study on electronic media, they were asked to go without media for 24 hours. But many students in the study were not up to the challenge. A majority of them did not actually go without media for the one day, giving in and checking in with their phones or email. Students confessed, “I sat in my bed and stared blankly. I had nothing to do,” and “Media is my drug; without it I was lost. How could I survive one day without it?” The study revealed a physical dependency on media, especially Facebook and Twitter.

 

A common manifestation of psychosis is unwanted automatic thoughts.  How they manifest themselves may differ, be it a single or series of unwanted thoughts, or a voice heard in your mind.  These thoughts can be very disturbing some times, but there are ways to minimize the impact they have on your self-perceptions, emotions and to some extent, your day-to-day life.

 

The rules

 

1. Understand that just because a thought pops into your mind, that does not reflect on who you are.  Most automatic thoughts, or thoughts that pop into our minds spontaneously due to internal or external stimuli, are simply part of our subconscious.  Sometimes they are reactions to things happening in our bodies, such as horomones (which we all have regardless of age or gender), stress, or certain bodily states.  Our subconscious is a reflection of both our genes, our background and our habits.  This is not you though.  You are what you *choose* to think, say and do, not thought impulses that you experience or disembodied voices you hear.
2. If you suffer from hallucinations, make the distinction that these hallucinations are just manifestations of your mind, they are not real.  It is very easy to get lost in a delusion in the moment, and it takes consistent time and effort to be able to separate hallucination from reality, but it is doable.  If you have the habit of thinking in anything but the 1st person, try to break that habit and correct your thoughts so you are always thinking in the 1st person.  Instead of thinking to yourself, “You need to go take out the garbage Stephen”, think, “I need to take out the garbage”.  This may not make the voices or hallucinations go away immediately, if ever, but it can only help in training your mind to think in terms of “me” and not someone talking to you in the third person.
3. Create awareness of thoughts.  Get out of autopilot mode and be aware of not only what you’re thinking, and what automatic thoughts you have, but also what the cues are that trigger your thoughts and reactions to those thoughts.  Examine your responses to said cues and try to piece together what mental habits you have in regard to responding to automatic thoughts and psychotic thoughts.  We tend to run our lives in routine and habit, which in many ways is good, but in the case of our habits, particularly bad ones, such as negative responses to automatic thoughts, this can work against us.  A good way to tackle this is to keep a log of the automatic thoughts you have, what you were doing at the time you had them, what you felt at the time, and what your reaction was.  Over time you might notice a pattern, and if you can isolate certain cues that create these difficult situations for you, you can work towards minimizing the possibility of those cues from happening, or be more aware when they do happen so you can think and choose how to react, instead of just react.
4. Create an internal dialogue with yourself (not the hallucinations if you experience those)when negative automatic thoughts occur.  Make this include both positive affirmations, and realizations that the automatic thoughts are just your mind and do not represent you.  Also that psychotic thoughts are just automatic thoughts manifested differently because of the way neurotransmitters fire in your brain.  Create a script, and write it down, of what you plan to think to yourself when these thoughts occur.  Practice it as often as you can when the automatic thoughts are not occuring.  With practice, you will gain strength and ability to separate yourself from the situation, and to either let the thoughts run their course, or at least respond to them in a more rational manner.

These 4 points, if explored, followed and applied, will offer great assistance in a wide variety of situations in regards to automatic thought respose.  In fact, they can be applied to more than just automatic thought response, but really response to any undesired situation.  Whatever you do, please discuss any plans you have to follow these points with a qualified and certified medical practicitioner or psychologist first.

 

Some people don’t understand psychosis very well, even though there’s a lot of information about it that’s available in books, libraries, mental health clinics, and over the internet.

This lack of understanding can affect the way a person thinks of psychosis and how a person talks about psychosis. The media, for example, spend a lot of time trying to say that people with psychosis look scary, and that they do weird or harmful things, but this stereotype just isn’t true.

Unfortunately, because there are so many negative myths about psychosis, many people have the wrong idea of what psychosis might be. Sometimes these myths and stereotypes about psychosis even prevent people from getting the help they need!

Below is a list of some common myths and misinformation about psychosis. There is some information provided to help explain why these myths are wrong.

It’s like in the movies!

 

People think that lot’s of things they see in the movies are true. Not the fantasy stuff like Harry Potter or Spiderman, but other stuff like Psycho or Me, Myself and Irene. They let what they see and hear in movies colour their ideas about things. Unfortunately, the movies tend to show people with psychosis in very unflattering ways. That’s how misunderstandings start.

Have you ever heard someone say that people with psychosis have a multiple personality disorder? They’re just like in the movie Me, Myself and Irene, right? Well actually, no. Multiple personality disorder is a very rare condition and has nothing to do with psychosis at all.

Movies like Scream, Silence of the Lambs, Psycho or American Psycho seem to suggest another myth: that people experiencing psychosis are psychopaths. The facts are quite the opposite. A psychopath is someone who has a bunch (not just one) of characteristics that are not very nice. They have absolutely no compassion for other people, they are socially manipulative, and sometimes they are criminals or can be violent. A psychopath doesn’t care about anyone but him/herself, and even though may seem like a friend, he/she is really being friendly only to get what they want. This does not describe someone with psychosis.

Click here for a list of movies that do not portray psychosis correctly, and for movies that do.

Psychosis can’t happen to me!

Only bad people get something like psychosis. Three in 100 Canadians will have psychosis at some time in their life. That means, if you are in a room with 100 people, three of those people might have, or have had, or will have, an experience of psychosis. If you go to a concert where there are 1000 people, 30 people at that concert might have experienced psychosis or will experience it!

Because psychosis is a medical condition of the brain that is strongly affected by life’s stresses, almost anyone who has to deal with stress could develop psychosis. In addition, research has shown that if a person has related family members who have experienced psychosis, that person can have a stronger chance of developing psychosis. So people who have a history of psychosis in their families need to be on the watch for potential symptoms!

If psychosis can happen to anyone, and if the vulnerability for psychosis can be passed down through genes, that means that all kinds of people can develop psychosis, in the same way that all kinds of people can develop cancer, or Alzheimer’s disease.

Psychosis can happen to anyone; good people, bad people, funny people, and smart people.

You can “catch” psychosis from someone else

Psychosis isn’t like the flu, it’s not a transmissible infection. You can’t catch it from someone who has it, and if you have experienced psychosis, you can’t “give” it to another person.

Psychosis is a medical condition that develops from an imbalance of brain chemicals, in the same way that cancer develops from an “imbalance” of cancer cells. Click here for more information.

Psychosis is a medical condition that develops from an imbalance of brain chemicals, in the same way that cancer develops from an “imbalance” of cancer cells. Let’s look at this comparison more closely:

The body naturally makes cancerous cells, but our body is usually able to detect these cells and destroy them before they can cause harm. If the body is unable to destroy the cancer cells, or if the cancer cells reproduce very quickly, then the balance of healthy versus sick cells changes. Over time, if cancer cells are able to keep reproducing, the body gets overwhelmed by the growing numbers of harmful cells and begins to show signs of illness. The longer a person with cancer goes untreated, the more serious, or severe, their cancer can become.

Cancer doesn’t happen in all people, even though every person’s body makes cancerous cells. Right now, there is no way to stop a person’ from developing cancer. There are ways to help all people reduce their chances of developing cancer, but people who are at risk will always have to be careful with their health and take precautions. Going for regular checkups, and talking to their doctor about any changes in health are some of the precautions people take to prevent cancer.

The treatments for cancer that are available today usually involve removing or “killing” the harmful cancerous cells, and then preventing them from returning.

Like your body’s cells, your brain’s chemicals are always trying to maintain a healthy balance. It’s natural for our brain chemicals to fluctuate in the same way that it’s natural for the body to produce precancerous cells.

When you wake up in the morning and feel groggy, for example, it’s because your brain’s chemistry is reducing the chemicals it creates to help you sleep, and increasing the chemicals your brain needs to stay awake. Another example of chemical fluctuations is when you feel afraid suddenly, like when a door slams shut unexpectedly. If this has happened to you, you probably noticed that your heart started to pound and you started to feel clammy and nervous. If this has ever happened to you, you have experienced yet another change in the balance of brain chemicals.

Psychosis happens when the fluctuations of brain chemicals changes in such a way that it overwhelms the healthy balance of the brain.

Like cancer, there is no way to stop a person from developing psychosis, and like cancer, psychosis can get worse the longer it is left untreated. But it’s not something you can “catch!” There are ways to help reduce the chances of developing psychosis for persons who are at risk, and there are reliable ways to treat psychosis. And no, no one is going to cut into your brain or try to kill your brain cells! The treatments for cancer and the treatments for psychosis are very different, since they are different medical conditions. See the “Medication” section if you want to learn how psychosis is treated.

People with a condition like psychosis do bad things

With all the news stories we see of people with psychosis who do bad things, we might think that a lot of people with psychosis are criminals or something like that.

The truth is it is very rare for people with psychosis to commit serious crimes. In fact, many people with psychosis are very shy and can be fearful of others.

Another truth is that people with psychosis who do do bad things usually do those things as a result of bad habits. Some people with psychosis, for example, are addicted to drugs. In order to get drugs to feed their addictions, like other people with addictions people with psychosis can make some bad decisions, and take risks they ordinarily wouldn’t take if they were healthier and able to make better choices.

The unfortunate reality is that people who have psychosis are more often the victims of crime than the perpetrators of crime, but the media never tells us this fact. Sadly, people with psychosis are more likely to be robbed, abused, assaulted, or raped than people without psychosis.

The best way to help a person with psychosis be safe, healthy, and make better life choices is to support them in getting better!

If you have psychosis, you’ll never be a “normal” person

This myth is an important one to talk about, because it crops up a lot in the media and in everyday discussions. This myth can have a serious impact on how a person with psychosis feels about themselves, and usually that impact is a harmful one.

It’s important to ask: What is “normal?” Does “normal” look like something? Do “normal” people do or say any special things? If you had to pick the most “normal” person in a room, who would that be? Why is that person the most “normal?” Is there anything that might make that person “not normal?”

The more you explore the idea of “normal” the more you will come to understand that normal is a word that describes things that some people often do, and not things that all people always do.

It’s likely that the more you think about the person or people who can be described as “normal” in your life and what they do or how they do it, the more you’ll notice that those people have all sorts of quirks and habits that make them somehow different from others. Really, it’s more “normal” to seem different and to feel different from others than it is to feel or look like you fit in 100% of the time.

Now, if we’re going to talk about “normal” as the things that people often do, there are some things that Canadian people do that are pretty common:

• People often complete high school, not all people, but most of them
• People often have a job, or want to have a job
• People often want to have relationships, and often try to make them happen.

Are you interested in any of these things? If you say yes to even one of them, you’re a pretty “normal” person.

However, psychosis can interfere with how a person does these things, like finishing school, working, or developing relationships because the symptoms can disrupt the routine of everyday life. And so while most Canadians graduate from high school with their friends, for example, a person living with psychosis might find that schoolwork is a little more difficult, or that finishing school takes a little longer.

At first it can take a little longer to do things if a person has psychosis. Being slowed down by any health condition can make one feel left behind when they compare themselves to their friends. But over time, with patience and perseverance, and sometimes with a little help, life just starts to move forward again and it’s easier to catch up.

And just so everyone knows, most people feel like they’re being left behind at some point in their life. Feeling left behind, or out of the loop, is a pretty “normal” experience too!