When I was twenty-five I had my first manic episode in which I heard things that weren't there, etc. It lasted for almost a month. I checked myself into the hospital and a week later, I took the the Depakote they prescribed me, and woke up the next morning with the realization that it had all been an hallucination.

When I was 38 I had my next psychotic experience, which was much more frightening, and changed my diagnosis to schizoaffective. I'd say the episode lasted for about a month. Again, I was hospitalized and meds. are what brought me back to reality - Seroquel.

It's very difficult when we go through a psychotic episode to believe that it is not real. I had a hard time believing it wasn't real even after I was better. This makes it hard to take medication. I thought medication would some how muddle what was really taking place. But the opposite is true.