What is Psychotic Disorder? Symptoms, Causes, Treatment 

The psychotic disorder is a wide term that outlines various types of mental health conditions. Today, we’ll discuss what is psychotic disorder; its types, symptoms, causes, and treatment.

What is Psychotic Disorder?

Psychotic disorder is a severe mental illness that impacts the mind of a person, and the person loses touch with reality. They can’t differentiate between reality and imagination. It’s difficult for them to think clearly, behave appropriately, understand reality, communicate effectively, respond emotionally, or make a good judgment.

The psychosis comprises delusions, hallucination, or confusion; and having an impaired relationship with reality. According to an estimate, it impacts roundabout 3 in every 100 people, and they would experience psychosis at some point in their lives. It’s important to mention here that psychosis isn’t present in every mental health condition and its symptoms are different among different people.

Types of Psychotic Disorder 

Some of the main types of psychotic disorder are as follows;

Schizophrenia

People with the schizophrenic condition experience a change in behavior and exhibit other symptoms like hallucinations and delusions, and they tend to last for more than six months. The condition impacts their performance in relationships, school, or work. However, these are the early signs of schizophrenia.

Schizoaffective Disorder

It’s a type where people exhibit the symptoms of both mood disorder (like bipolar disorder or depression) and schizophrenia.

Schizophreniform Disorder

It’s a form where a person exhibits the symptoms of schizophrenia for a short time, ranging from roundabout 1 to 6 months.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

People with brief psychotic disorder experience the episode of psychotic behavior for a short time; it’s in response to a stressful traumatic event like the death of a close person or in the family. Often the recovery process of this condition is quick and short and it takes less than a month.

Delusional Disorder

The main sign of delusional disorder comprises fixed and false beliefs. It’s relevant to the real-life situations and circumstances that may be true or not, like having a disease, plotted against and being followed. The delusional belief would last for a month.

Shared Psychotic Disorder

The share psychotic disorder occurs when an individual in the relationship experiences delusions and the other partner in the relationship adopts it as well.

Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder

As the name implies, the condition occurs by the usage or withdrawal of drugs like crack cocaine or hallucinogens; and it causes confusing speech, delusions, or hallucinations.

Psychotic Disorder due to Medical Condition

Psychotic disorders due to medical conditions would exhibit the symptoms of delusions and hallucinations. It happens due to any medical illness that impacts your brain like a brain tumor or head injury.

Paraphrenia

The symptoms of paraphrenia are closer to schizophrenia. It is common among elderly people and it exhibits its symptoms early in life.

Symptoms of Psychotic Disorder 

Delusions and hallucinations are the main symptoms of psychotic disorder, and they’re as follows;

Delusions

It comprises believing in the false beliefs, even after proving that they’re false. For instance, a person believes that the food has poison in it, even after a person proves it wrong that the food is fine and not poisonous. But the person persists in their beliefs, this is a delusion.

Hallucinations

It comprises of feelings things, hearing voices, and seeing things that aren’t there. For instance, a person would experience things that aren’t there, feeling sensation on their body when nothing is touching it, a funny taste in their mouth where you don’t have anything in your mouth, smelling odors, or hearing voices.

Other Symptoms

Some of the other symptoms of the psychotic disorder are as follows;

• Mood symptoms or mood swing like depression or mania
• Detached manner and cold with incapability to share your emotions
• Having trouble in the relationship, work, or school
• Losing interest in routine activities
• Not paying interest in your personal hygiene
• The unusual or slow movement
• Dangerous or strange behavior
• Incoherent or disorganized speech

Causes of Psychotic Disorder 

There is no one particular cause that would develop the psychotic disorder. Chemical changes in the brain and genetics play a significant role in the development of psychosis. Speaking of chemical changes in the brain, some of the elements that may cause it are as follows;

• Underlying health condition
• Substance use
• Traumatic event

Previous research studies have shown that disruption in glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine level in the brain would cause the development of the psychosis disorders. Researchers haven’t found sufficient evidence to develop a link between disruptions in neurotransmitters with psychosis.

Treatment of Psychotic Disorder 

The treatment plan for psychosis disorders comprises medication and therapy or both in combination. They’re as follows;

Medication

Antipsychotic medicine is the top-line treatment method for psychosis. They allow you to block the dopamine and serotonin receptors in the brain in order to avoid delusions and hallucinations. If a person has substance use psychosis, then antipsychotics won’t be the effective treatment method.

The low dosage of benzodiazepine works better for catatonia, and your doctor would recommend electroconvulsive therapy in some cases.

Therapy

Some of the main types of therapeutic approaches are as follows;

• CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) would help you to change the thought pattern relevant to hallucination and delusions
• Individual therapy would help you to work on your feelings, especially in the case of the traumatic event
• Psychoanalytic therapy has a great impact on the functionality of a person with psychosis

Conclusion: What is Psychotic Disorder? Symptoms, Causes, Treatment 

After an in-depth study of what is psychotic disorder; its symptoms, types, causes, and disorder; we have realized that psychosis could badly disturb a person’s life. If you’re experiencing its symptoms, then you should consult with the doctor in order to work on a treatment plan.