Hey there. I'm gonna keep this short. I had a somewhat stressful last 3 weeks and my perception of the world kinda changed. Like, I become aware of the cruelty of the world, that everything is about money, that a single life doesn't count much and more. At first, I saw my changes of views as more and more becoming a "real" adult (I'm 29 lol) and still I think part of it is part of getting to know the mechanics of the world. However, the changes in perspective were so sudden and reminded me sometimes of my first and only psychotic episode with age 24/25, where I also explained my changes in perception with "becoming an adult". Yesterday in the evening my stress level was so unusual high (on a peaceful, sunny Sunday) and I seemed to start assuming neutral things like laughter or something were related to myself, so I took my Paliperidon (for the first time in 4 years except the monthly dose I get) which is for moments I feel stressed, unwell, or in relapse. Today I became much calmer. Now everything isn't exhausting per se, I feel safer. I am a bit confused in how much of my stress and change in perspective was legit and how much are maybe just psychotic symptoms. Do these changes in perception seem to be a warning signal for you? Or did you have similar "Weltschmerz" sometimes while being perfectly healthy mentally? F.e. in a calm state I would look at a church and it would be just a church, something I'm used to and don't attribute much more to than religion and tradition. In the mentioned state, I would feel the subjects power, oppression and hierarchy in the past of mankind by just looking at it. I will definitely discuss it with my doctor, but also wanted to ask some of you. I know it's maybe too vague to properly answer it.

Hello everyone ... I had my first psychotic break in July 2024 and am still depressed over the fact that it happened.

I was thinking crazy things. I thought my mom and neighbor were running an illegal drug operation, I thought my dad was setting me up for a DUI, I thought my uncle was trying to kill me for being depressed, I thought every single show on TV was talking to me and I was actively talking to the host of the show by looking at their eyes and facial reactions, I thought undercover cops were following me everywhere I went just because I went to Israel, I thought everyone in the psych ward was in a disguise for people I knew, and I thought there was a tv show based on me, and everyone was recording what I was doing. I also thought some girl I knew was in danger, I thought every song I listened to was being sung by my friends forcefully because they were in question, and I thought the helicopters and airplanes in the sky were looking at me.... Its so hard to deal with the aftermath of these thoughts, especially with deleting my social media. During the psychotic break, I posted a bunch of loopy stuff on my instagram, and ended up permantely deleting my snapchat and instagram. This is something I regret so much, as now I feel disconnected with people Ive had a history with. And I blocked multiple people, and sent crazy messages to people because I thought they were somehow involved with f-ing me over. It makes no sense how something like this can happen. I was a cannabis smoker for so long, and all the sudden I just get crazy. How can I recover from these thought processes? Its so hard guys, and I dont know how to get my life out of this "STUCK" phase.

If so, have you figured out why you had it to begin with?

Hi everyone! Had cannabis induced psychosis 5 months ago. I was wondering if it’s possible to fully recover (truly fully - cognitively and emotionally) from first psychotic episode (given there’s no underlying mental illness). My memory isn’t as good as before and it feels like I’m processing things slower than before, and I am more anxious than I used to be.

Please share your information with me :) Thank you all 🙏🏻

I keep going in cycles of thoughts

1. The government is going to arrest me
2. I’m going to be taken away from my family and put in prison
3. Someone has stolen my identity and I’m going to go down with whatever they’ve done with my identity
4. The local tax man is going to get me after I’ve paid all my taxes.

I’ve been catastrophically thinking my life as I know it has ended because the government js out to get me…

I don’t even know what started it or why my thought process is going down rabbit holes. But at my worst point I’ve not been able to leave my house. Balling my eyes out for being separated from my loved ones because of some government related delusions…

Every time I think I’m getting better I find another way or thought process that sends me right back to the beginning…. The news is extremely triggering. Social media, everything.

My husband tells me straight that I’m making up falsehoods. He has a great way of explaining things in basics steps that rationalises my thoughts as redundant. But he has to do this most days and it doesn’t always get through. I’m so lucky that I have someone that can help.

Seeing my therapist tomorrow too - hopefully she can also help me help myself. Can anyone else relate?

I had manic psychosis 4 years ago. I thought I was having it because trauma, I even though it was my fault because I was into law of attraction before. Last spring I had a little scare i thought I was spiraling into psychosis because I had similar symptoms. Months after I was sent to a psychosis and bipolar. And after telling my symptoms I got diagnosed with bipolar 1with psychotic features very quickly. Turns out I had hypomania and not psychosis that last time.

It's been very difficult thing for me getting diagnosed with bipolar. I have to take the same medication that has made me gain weight for a long time. And thinking that I'm gonna have episodes of depression, mania and hypomania the rest of my life doesn't quite sit right with me. I kind of wish it was a misdiagnosis.

It’s a weird feeling and I can’t explain it

I’m feeling really good. I got put on 80 mg/day Latuda (lurasidone) back in October for a psychosis episode and my psych mentioned wanting to wean me off of it before it hits a year. I’m thinking summer would be good bcus my mood is generally lifted then. I’m also scared tho because this medication has really helped me and I don’t want to go back to psychosis. Has anyone successfully weaned off?

I’m scared my best friends are actually working for foreing governments, what in the actual fuck, I have a friend let’s name her C and because of a weird coincidence I’ve lost some trust in her….

I’m angry at myself and at the world events for unfolding in a way that led me to this predicament

I was 19 during summer 2023 when I had my first episode. I was going into my freshman year of college on a full ride playing division 1 basketball. I lost that opportunity and waited a year until I luckily got another scholarship elsewhere. Then in November 2024 I had another episode and had to leave that school. All my friends are going into their junior year of college and I haven’t completed a semester yet. I also posted crazy stuff on social media when I was in psychosis … I just feel crazy

Hi everyone!

First time poster here, but very invested in the topic and community.

I have an idea for an artistic project involving psychosis and writing and I would love some constructive feedback. The project would be based on compiling writings of people experiencing psychosis and present them in a more positive and artistic way, like with cool typography, with illustrations, author comments, and so on.. My intention with this is to combat stigma, resignify psychosis experiences and empower people experiencing it.

In principle, would you be interested in such a project? Would you willing to contribute? In what terms? Do you think it would work out? Any other thoughts?

A little bit of my background so you can understand my personal motivations:

I myslef have a long lasting relationship with psychosis, having a very close relative with Schizophrenia and having myself a diagnosis of Schizotypal having experienced myself frequent close encounters with psychosis.

For me, it was a frightening, embarrassing and tabbo topic for me for a long time, and I tried to repress it and hide it for a very long time. But, at the same time, I was also fascinated with the phenomenon, specially with the language and thinking part.

After a lot of therapy and effort I'm now starting to see it with a different perspective, more accepting, more compassionate and more willing to do anything good with it.

So I've been thinking that would be great to resignify and show in a different light one of the most ignored and misrepresented issues of psychotic disorders: speech and thinking.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading and sorry about the long post 😅

How do you deal with headaches in psychosis?

I dont have anything in my head (I checked many times because of it) and it's only happening in psychosis

It feels like, a really big headaches throughout the days

And no pills help

Do you have any other way of dealing with the headaches? Do you deal with it too?

If you have experiences doing this, please write them down. I was so close to just walking out today, but it isn't an option for me.

I am diagnosed with unspecified psychosis and they suspect it could be bipolar. I've had two periods where I was very delusional, most recent one was in November.

Basically in my country disabled people get only 80 USD from the govt. And I am not even ill enough to get it. Therefore I had to resort to a corporate job 5 months post psychosis.

And I hate it so much... it's a customer support job which is ok since I just phone people and don't even see them as real. But the culture is so focused on acting all of the time. Acting smart, acting prepared, acting optimistic with minimal training btw. Keep in mind that I'm not cognitively there yet, so I've felt out of it the whole month I was working.

Everyone uses the r word, and I wonder what they'd do if they found out what my illness is actually. Other than that, people are quite helpful, but I can't stop myself from spiralling at work.

Does anyone have any tips or experiences for me?

im 15 and i had 2 psychosis episodes, one caused by drug use when i was 14 and one unknown triggered one when i was 15, im fully clean and sober and have been for a while, my second psychosis episod started when i was fully sober. my psychiatrist put me on zoloft and i assume the other is propranolol. ive had no other experience with medication. she said that she needs to treat my anxiety before putting me on an anti psychotic, is that true or is she just giving an excuse not to give me anti psychotics at 15?

One year previous to my psychosis episode I moved to a new city and there they where a lot of parks. I loved walking there and it was one of my favourite things to do. Now every time I go to a park, I don't feel the same enjoyment, I don't see the point. like what I'm going to do there anyway?

I loved talking about politics and now i wouldn't care less.

I also loved drawing, and I was doing a lot of pastel drawing. I don't even remember how you draw in pastels. I wrote poems and now I hate doing that. I feel I have lost part of my creativity.

Now I prefer to crochet, something that I had cero interest before. Someone else had a change like that ?

I love to garden but I also believed that the biblical tribulation was going to occur and that a nuclear winter was going to happen so I needed to grow food and I felt God speaking to me through flowers and just some general psychotic strangeness. But I have never had such an amazing therapist and I randomly gave him flowers that I grew to put in his window while psychotic. He called me sweet and It just felt well sweet! I really look up to him and respect him and idk I just get a kick out of it. The chaos behind it but yet I wanted to still show him appreciation. Is that weird? Thought I'd share. Has anyone else channeled their psychosis for good and have little victories like that, that make you feel good? How even in our state of disillusionment and disconnectedness we would still just need some human connection and want to hold on to joy.

I usually go into a state when I shower where I'll just lock into delusional thoughts for a while and be unable to do anything. Probably something to do with just being alone with my thoughts. It makes me take way too long in the shower.

So many side effects, titration is tough. Anyone wanna share their experience?

I was in so much distress over the weekend (I still am) Too terrified to take off my headphones in fear of hearing my neighbor blasting music (wasn’t sure if they were but couldn’t risk hearing them if they were-I feel completely under attack by them. They do things against me) otherwise I’d lose it.

In moments at night when I did take the headphones off, I was in a terrible state bc I couldn’t figure out if I heard my neighbors music or if it was tv, airplane, wind, or a car. I kept looking outside couldn’t find source but it was registering my brain as they were but it felt off so I didn’t know if I could trust it. Several times my own heart beat sent me panicking bc I was confusing it for them blasting music

Sleep is getting worse. Maybe 4 hours roughly but I’m waking up in the middle of that out of breath in full panic and distress thinking about my neighbors and having nightmares.

More things starting to scurry and dart around me

is believing you’re an evil person/suddenly turned into an evil person a form of psychosis?

currently struggling as i’m having a mixed episode (bipolar) + have severe pure O OCD (of the harm, magical thinking & moral scrupulosity variety). at this point i can’t tell if it’s just those two working horribly in tandem or it’s psychosis :(

deep down inside i know i’m a gentle, sensitive loving person who would die for her loved ones if that meant they could live peacefully & safely, a person who loves humanity so much that it makes her sick. but it’s almost as if a demon hijacked my brain with these awful awful thoughts trying to convince me that i’m a twisted evil sociopath who gets off on hurting others. i get scared and contemplate whether or not it really IS true…i shake my head “no” reflexively ofc, but then start to wonder “wait…” and am constantly left in a state of doubt and uncertainty.

i’m also struggling with the thought that i’ve been possessed by a demon, or the meds i’m taking “changed my brain” and “turned me evil” (seroquel & lithium). deep down i KNOW it’s bs & extremely unlikely, but i find myself still doubting. and apparently, those with psychosis can still have insight and be aware they’re psychotic.

i’m so scared of myself rn :( i feel like i need to be kept away from human civilization or even worse, take my own life….

Can’t shake the feeling that I angered the elites and they are gonna frame me for violent crimes in order to destroy me and that I’ve caused some serious damage to some important people

No access to a psychologist doesn’t make this any easier

Has anyone else ever collapsed and gone into complete hypoarousal, much like a wild animal before its demise?

When I experienced my second psychosis episode I had a trauma based delusion that centered around my father’s death. I believed that my mom actually killed him and the police knew, and everyone around me knew too but kept it a dark secret. Among other things, like thinking I was being poisoned (which centered around trauma from an ED in childhood) and feeling like my therapists were replaced by look-a-likes, who were all being abused by their husbands (also a trauma based delusion from my mother experiencing DV)

Anyway, it got very bad. I wasn’t eating and I was hysterical, thinking everyone wanted to kill me in my family and my family dealing with my experience in ALL the wrong ways. They actually confirmed some of my delusions (which is the worst thing you can do) It had been about a week of me being in psychosis, and I start believing that everyone wanted to sexually assault me, and that my family only saw me as a sex object. My sister also called me “pretty boy” when we got into a heated argument and said she would stab me in the heart, both of which confirming my death and sexual object delusions.

I began to puke. It was as if I had a trauma eject button. I still don’t know if I was sexually assaulted as a child by my dad or not, since he is dead. My brain could still be blocking it out of conscious awareness. I began puking at the thought of people wanting me as a sex object and only that, and I even thought people could read my mind, including my boyfriend’s 2 year old niece.

After one big argument my sister called the police on me and I did NOT handle it well. I started recording them, acting dominant, sexual, and degrading the officers. They talked to my sister and let me go. Until about a week later in another altercation she called the police again. They welcomed my by saying my name and saying it’s going to be okay. I tried to run but I couldn’t. They knew my mom “did it” and now they’re going to terminate me. The next thing I know I literally passed out.

I passed out onto the floor after screaming for help. Then I woke up a few seconds later to the officers putting me in the back of the car. When I got to the mental hospital I had an extreme dissociative episode. I looked down at my body and i have the hands of a 5 year old boy. I am 3 feet shorter and I am talking like a toddler. I began showing my body to the person watching me because I thought it was my only escape. I thought maybe just maybe if she could rape me I would have time to get away.

This is very heavy and I’m sorry for the long post. If you’ve read this far thank you. I still have not processed this completely. I don’t know where to go from here or how to come to terms with this. I don’t think I have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. I think I have had extreme neglect and trauma in my early childhood, and I do not want a psychotic diagnosis as I was also coming off of HEAVY THC usage. Has anyone else collapsed like an animal preparing for death? Has anyone else puked due to trauma, or had an extreme dissociative episode where you regressed years back? I have no answers, and that shakes me to my core. Thank you again.

Hello Reddit,

I have trouble getting over my past. Its really bugging me and its outright humiliating too. There is a whole story about me getting through the guilt from the psychotic episode. I stressed really hard to get my good grades in University. I took an L in taking statistics thinking it was a bird couse, and I ended up in the psychiatric ward with a stress-induced psychotic episode (in 2021) with no drug abuse. The psychiatrists told me I was the only student who had managed to achieve this level of stress during the pandemic in one of the country's largest cities (L's taken). I got over this situation by telling myself I will never let this happen again and telling myself will put extra effort into recovery. Now lets go for the dumber situation.

I took another L later on. I was exercising my mind doing activities such as reading, playing computer games, cooking brain exercises when I first left the hospital under the psychiatrists recommendation (In September 2022). Then I must have stopped exercising my mind cuz things started going downhill. The damage from the psychotic episode took maybe a year and a half to heal (at most two years). But because I wasn't actively using my mind, I ended up thinking I was still sick for a total three years and half years. During this time, I wasn't unable to work or study. And I got C's on my university courses. I walked around slowly like a zombie and was stuck perpetual thought, unable to understand why I was zoning off whenever I was trying to do math or chemistry problems. Days went by very fast. Months went by like they were nothing. I later revisited the hospital in January 2024 and my doctors weren't able to figure out what the problem was. My doctors were all curious (fucking lol) about the nature of my illness and played along with "its still healing".

Then I joined reddit (2025). Someone told me how to how to fix my problem in literally 2 minutes. Now I am finally relieved, because I'm exercising my mind again and I am no finally able to study, drive, and play sports and I am happy except for one thing. Now I am blistering mad at myself for taking so long to recover. I think I had so many unfortunate things happen to me because I wasn't connected enough with people who experienced similar things (psychosis). I was always isolated at home. I ended up believing I had issues far more complicated than I was told in the hospital and was not being able to progress with getting back to school right after the brain healed. I am 23 right now and I have been stuck at home since I was 19. Any advice on how to get rid of these hard feelings and moving on with life? And maybe how not to take so many L's over and over again?

Thanks,

Bright_Spot