Topic Tuesday **closed** Psychosis

Some really interesting insights so far.

May I ask what are your thoughts about how your family/friends can best support you during the initial phases of psychosis? Is there anything they can do to minimse the severity?

@soul from a carer's point of you, what are some strategies that you have in place when you first notice that your partner is not behaving quite right?

For those out there who are experiencing a psychotic episode, is it better to have people around you or do you want to be left alone?

Great question @soul.

My erratic behaviour is very obvious to those around me. I can become obsessed with something but for a short time only and then i move onto something else and so on.

My speech is always oviously effectede and someti8mes my movement can be erratic as well-soyes it is very obvious

Awww @soul it's not your fault. You a partner, not a mental health professional so it's ok to not know these things. You're on here, learning new strategies, which is great!

Before my 16 year old sons first psychotic episode he did have some strange new ideas, was talking a lot about them and showed more emotional engagement than usual. He started sleeping outside in the shed. Then came a notable delay before every response during conversation. Then he started flapping his arms and upper torso constantly, saying that Jesus was healing him. At this point I took him to a GP, saying we both suspected he was showing signs of schizophrenia. The GP said he seemed ok but that I better keep an eye on him. Then he started talking about Jesus to everyone he met, pulling grotesque faces, speaking nonsense in strange voices and throwing himself on the ground. Less than 48 hours after the visit to the GP he was taken to the Emergency Department of the hospital by family members. There he was medicated and stayed in the Psyche ward for over 2 weeks initially.