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As long as there is no danger to the client or to others, you can treat psychosis at home. Using an evidenced based approach to identify the underlying issues causing the illness and building a structured care plan is the first step to effective psychosis treatment at home.
Psychotic experiences can be highly distressing and disruptive, whether it be hearing or seeing things or even holding unusual beliefs. If other people don’t experience or share them, it can interfere with day-to-day life, conversations, relationships and even your job.
While experiences are surprisingly common, and almost anyone can have a brief psychotic episode, it can range from these individual occurrences to successions of episodes that could later be defined and diagnosed as a psychotic illness such as bipolar or schizophrenia.
We prefer to treat each individual as exactly that, an individual. This means we suggest treatment and therapies based on their specific requirements. We use our knowledge of current clinical advice, together with treatment programmes, to help people make a complete and full recovery from psychosis, whether that be through home care visits or live-in care.
Counselling, which includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, can put your experiences into context, allowing you to talk about and deal with them. Other therapies include Psychodynamic psychotherapy, that looks in more depth at your experiences and tries to identify reasons behind them, whether it be unconscious or subconscious. There are also arts therapies, that allow the person to express how they are feeling in different, creative ways. Drama therapy helps those suffering come to terms with the events that may be traumatic and the root cause, while family therapy can ultimately help you and your family cope better with the psychosis.
Aside from therapies and specific treatment for psychosis, there is also the case for antipsychotic medication, this helps to weaken delusions as well as hallucinations, helping the person to think more clearly. However, as health professionals we will always look towards treatment that involves therapy first. When medication is recommended it is important that the user does not take too much over a long time, instead using the lowest possible dose over the shortest possible time.
Symptoms of psychosis can often include those listed below. However, it is important to be aware that not everyone with psychosis will experience all of these symptoms:
Psychosis is often diagnosed when someone experiences hallucinations, delusions and disorganised speech and thinking. These can sometimes cause the person to hurt themselves or others, so it is imperative to seek professional medical help and reach out to psychosis treatment experts if you notice these signs in yourself or someone close to you.
When a person is affected by psychosis, they may experience hallucinations – seeing or hearing things that are not there, for example, a baby crying when there is no baby within earshot. These sensory experiences occur with no stimulus and can also be visual, with people seeing people or objects that are not there or experiencing smells or tastes that there is no reason for.
Delusions are common symptoms of psychosis and lead the person suffering from having thoughts or feelings that are not true, for example, walking into a room and believing everybody is staring at them. This can lead to an individual withdrawing from social situations and becoming reclusive to avoid such situations where delusions occur. A person experiencing persecutory delusions may believe that a person or organisation are plotting to hurt them, whereas someone with grandiose delusions may think they hold an immense status, such as being a political figure or having special powers, e.g. ability to fly.
If an individual is suffering from psychotic episodes or any of the symptoms listed above, private psychosis treatment could be the next step in helping them on their road to wellness and recovery.
Psychosis is not classed as a condition on its own but can be triggered by traumatic events and stress, or physical conditions like Parkinson’s, a brain tumour or as on offset from drugs or alcohol misuse.
It also can be experienced by those suffering from severe depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. With the correct treatment, psychotic episodes can be reduced, and there is a good rate of recovery amongst clients. However, to ensure that the proper treatment is given, the underlying cause of the illness must be identified.
Some types of psychosis can be triggered by the following conditions or incidents experienced by an individual:
Postnatal Psychosis
A severe form of postpartum depression experienced after a woman gives birth to her child. This is more likely to be experienced if the woman has previously suffered from mental disorders such as bipolar and schizophrenia.
Brief psychotic disorder
Presents itself as short bursts of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disordered thought patterns and potentially suicidal thoughts. These episodes can last from a day up to a month and are most often triggered by traumatic experiences or genetics.
Alcohol or stimulant-induced psychosis
LSD is probably the most famous drug to trigger psychosis, but there are many other popular recreational drugs such as cocaine and cannabis that can cause hallucinations and delusions amongst those who use them. Misuse of alcohol can also induce psychotic behaviour.
Organic psychosis
This type of psychosis is caused by a person having a head injury or experiencing an infection in the brain.
Alongside the different types of psychosis, there are also mental health disorders which cause a person to experience psychotic symptoms, which include schizophrenia, delusional disorder, bipolar disorder and psychotic depression. A mental health assessment and subsequent psychosis treatment is recommended for an individual suffering from the above form of psychosis.
Contact a member of our team today if you wish to learn more about in-home psychosis treatment.
Psychosis is diagnosed through a psychiatric evaluation where a doctor will observe the person’s behaviour and ask questions about their psychosis related experiences. There may be further medical tests during the diagnosis to ensure that there is no underlying illness or problem that is causing the symptoms.
Psychotherapy can help reduce the severity of psychosis through treating residual and cognitive symptoms of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. The process can also be made much more effective when combined with antipsychotic medication. Maintenance therapy can also ensure that future psychotic episodes are prevented.
If you feel that you are suffering from psychosis, it’s always better to be diagnosed and treated at an early stage. This improves long term outcomes when suffering from these forms of mental illness. Contact Claimont today to discuss how our psychosis care services can help you make progress towards living happily and healthily with your psychosis condition under control.
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Care Quality Commission | 24 May 2019
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