Psychosis

Psychosis is a severe mental disorder in which thoughts and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality. Individuals experiencing psychosis frequently will have hallucinations, confusion and/or delusions. Psychosis is usually a symptom of Schizophrenia, mania or substance abuse, but can also result from severe trauma or sleep deprivation. Symptoms of psychosis can include:

• Visual hallucinations-seeing things are not really there
• Auditory hallucinations-hearing things are not really there
• Tactile hallucinations-feeling things that are not really there (i.e., bugs crawling on your skin)
• Delusions of grandeur-believing you have God like or special powers
• Paranoia-believing people are out to get you or conspiring against you or others

If an individual is in psychosis, the only treatment is medication management and frequently hospitalization.  The goal of counseling is to identify triggers that can lead to psychosis and develop and employ coping skills to prevent a psychotic episode.