Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Types Of Psychotic Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder

by Sheila Wilson

When a person experiences hallucinations or delusions, this is considered psychosis. Hallucinations and delusions are misperceptions of reality.

Hallucinations can be visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile, though most people associate hallucinations with visual hallucinations. In addition to seeing things that are not present, hallucinations can involve hearing things, smelling things, and feeling things that are not truly there.

Delusions are extreme, unrealistic thoughts. Not all unrealistic thoughts are delusions. The difference between delusions and an unrealistic thought is the extreme nature of a delusion. For example, a delusion may be of thinking that the FBI are monitoring the person's activities or that they have superpowers.

The psychiatric illness that is most often associated with psychosis is schizophrenia. Psychotic symptoms can also occur with bipolar disorder and depression.

The hallucinations and delusion of schizophrenia may be of paranoia or seem random. Paranoid schizophrenia may cause delusions of being watched or having their thoughts read by outside forces.

Psychotic symptoms of bipolar disorder and depression are related to the mood disturbance. Psychotic symptoms of depression or depressive episodes can be much more severe than suicidal thoughts.

Auditory hallucinations from a depressive episode can be voices telling the person to kill themselves. The person may have delusions that they have no choice but to commit suicide or that homicide will save the person from hell on earth and send the victim to heaven,

Mania causes hallucinations and delusions related to euphoria and grandiosity. The person may have a delusion that they have superpowers or have been chosen by God or another supernatural being.

Psychotic symptoms are not common symptoms of bipolar disorder or depression. People may experience psychotic symptoms only during the worst depressive or manic episodes of their lives and will not experience them again.

Medication to treat psychosis, commonly referred to as anti-psychotic drugs, may be used to treat psychotic symptoms of bipolar disorder. Injections of an anti-psychotic medication like Haldol may be necessary if the person is resistent to taking their medication regularly.

Once the bipolar disorder is stabilized, the psychotic symptoms of bipolar disorder subside. Hallucinations and delusions seem very realistic to the person while having a psychotic episode. During the time that the person is experiencing periods of psychosis, the person may have significant stress and anxiety related to the fear of losing touch with reality.

About the Author:

Sheila Wilson explains what are the common manic depression symptom and how to spot bipolar disorder in children in the early days. For details please visit her website to read on further.

Get all the information and photos:: http://coringa.info/health/types-of-psychotic-symptoms-of-bipolar-disorder

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