Reactive psychosis causes, symptoms and treatment

Psychosis is an alteration of perception, behavior, emotions and thinking that can lead people to experience a serious disconnection with reality. When a person suffers from psychosis, they present symptoms such as anxiety, lack of concentration, hallucinations, delusions or even depression, among many others. This is a state that commonly occurs in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders such as Reactive Psychosis, a psychological disorder that we will talk about below..

Contents

• What is Reactive Psychosis?
• Symptoms of reactive psychosis
• Causes of Reactive Psychosis
• Treatment of reactive psychosis
  • Links of interest

What is Reactive Psychosis?

Reactive psychosis is a rare psychological disorder in which periods of psychotic behavior occur suddenly and of short duration. These psychotic behaviors can range from hallucinations, delusions or confusion among others.

To be able to speak of reactive psychosis, it must appear suddenly and not extend beyond a month. There are three types of reactive psychosis

brief:

• Reactive psychosis with a clear external triggering factor: In this type of reactive psychosis there is a key external factor that has triggered the disorder and that can be clearly detected, usually a stressful or traumatic event that leads the affected person to a level of anxiety or high stress.
• Reactive psychosis without an obvious trigger. It is the brief psychotic disorder that appears without a previous stressful or traumatic event having apparently occurred.
• Reactive psychosis during the postpartum period. This type of reactive psychosis appears in women during the first weeks after giving birth, however, this subtype is not a particularly common phenomenon..

Symptoms of reactive psychosis

The symptoms of this disorder usually last a few days or weeks, however their severity can even lead the patient to experience certain risks such as suicide or violent behavior. These are symptoms that also occur in other psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. The most common are hallucinations and delusions.

• Hallucinations: One of the most common symptoms in psychosis is usually hallucinations, altered perceptual states in which the person can feel, hear or see things that do not exist in reality. This occurs when, for example, a person hears voices or sounds that do not exist, or when they believe they can see something or someone that is not present in real life.
• Delusions: Delusions are another common symptom in psychoses and are based on maintaining and defending incoherent or illogical beliefs such as paranoid, conspiratorial or grandeur ideas, totally unrelated to reality. Thus, it can be a delusion to affirm that they are chasing us or that they have microphones to spy on us in our house, when this is not true.

Besides hallucinations and delusions, other common symptoms are:

• Disorganized language: This symptom goes hand in hand with disorganized thinking. It is presented in the form of incoherent speech, showing little or no relationship between some ideas and others.
• Extreme mood swings: People can move from one emotion to another in a short time and in an exaggerated way.
• Disorganized behavior: Like language, the person's behavior can become disorganized, carrying out incoherent behaviors and with little logical appearance, such as undressing in public places or suddenly screaming.
• Lack of personal care. People affected by this disorder may suffer a lack of basic care such as maintaining proper hygiene or physical appearance.

Causes of Reactive Psychosis

Although the causes of this disorder are not entirely clear, a possible genetic relationship important for its development is being considered. It seems that it is more common for this condition to appear in people who have relatives who suffer or have suffered from psychotic or mood disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression..

Reactive psychosis is a disorder that not only develops from biological or genetic causes, but also from context. Thus, a traumatic event such as a tragic loss or a violent accident can trigger this state of alteration and disconnection from reality..

In addition, other personality characteristics, such as poor coping skills, can make a person more prone to react.

in this maladaptive way as a defense weapon against a very stressful reality.

Treatment of reactive psychosis

Usually the symptoms of reactive psychosis resolve on their own in a period of no more than a month. Although most people with this disorder only experience it once, after a stressful occasion, some may experience it more times. If this happens and the symptoms do not diminish, it will be a mental health professional who should consider whether the patient is not suffering from a major disorder.

During the development of reactive psychosis, health professionals usually evaluate the symptoms to rule out other causes and commonly prescribe some medications such as antipsychotics or antidepressants to be able to control the symptoms. In addition, patients are often supervised with a view to controlling possible harm to themselves or others and professionals can accompany the treatment with psychotherapy to ensure that the patient understands what is happening to him and can manage the symptoms more effectively.

Links of interest

Psychology Today. Brief Psychotic Disorder. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/brief-psychotic-disorder

MedlinePlus. Brief Psychotic Disorder. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001529.htm