MENTAL HEALTH

Psychosis

If someone becomes confused and appears out of touch with everyone else’s perception of the world, they may be experiencing a psychotic episode. They may:

Have hallucinations
Strange and disorganised thinking
Experience paranoia
May appear quite flat
Hearing voices that may not be heard by anybody else
Strange and disorganised behaviour
Have false beliefs known as delusions
Have difficulty speaking

Some drugs such as hallucinogens, marijuana and amphetamines may trigger a psychotic episode.

Treatment of psychosis usually involves medication, and if someone is experiencing a psychotic episode, it is important they seek help from a doctor, a psychiatrist or from a clinical psychologist.

PSYCHOSIS

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness characterised by disturbances in a persons thoughts, perceptions, emotions and behaviour.

It affects approximately one in every hundred people worldwide. There are a number of signs and symptoms. They are divided into two groups: ‘active symptoms’ that reflect new or unusual forms of thought and behaviours such as delusions, and ‘passive symptoms’ which reflect a person’s loss of previous feelings and abilities.