psychosis

I was just thinking to myself about psychosis. I know I have had hallucinations a few times they are usually spiders one of my greatest fear. Not sure if this is a hallucination or not but a couple weeks ago I felt spiders crawling all over me but there was never anything there. The thing that puzzles me about them determining psychosis by feeling you are given powers by God, like once I felt as though God gave me the power to feel what orhers were feeling. Supposedly if this is psychosis they can say by fact it isnt true. Honestly, they cant in that situstion because I was right everytime. What if my sences were heightened so much that I could feel the emotions they were having before they showed a physical sign of it? I dont know Im just thinking, and everytime Im manic I can feel God around. Is this considered psychosis?

I don't know, I only ever get to hypomania, and even then God is SO close by, I can feel him all around me... He talks to me, gives me revelations about life and love and whatever's in between. don't think I was psychotic tho, I was aware of reality, my perception of reality was just more spiritual than physical...

Hey I'm no expert, maybe somebody more knowledgable can help you out

Very valid point!
I think writing off all intuition as delusional without taking the evidence into account is not a good approach to helping someone. At the least it undermines the trust of the patient.
It can be tricky for a pdoc to assess this in a short 10-15 minute interview. A good pdoc with their wits about them is probably looking for other signs of unrealistic beliefs and behaviours when making a diagnosis of psychosis. If they think you are misreading them (the pdoc), they may have grounds to conclude that your extrasensory perception is not as real as you believe it is.

I have had very powerful awareness of the souls and emotional states of people around me, mixed with very strange experiences of music acting like waves of water washing away the masks from people's personas. I think it was the meaning I attributed to the various experiences that seemed so off beat that persuaded my pdoc that I was floridly psychotic and needed to be hospitalised. Since I was quite impressed with my new abilities, I was in no hurry to go.

I still wonder at the truth of what happened though. There was evidence that my awareness was not off track, despite the mystical packaging it came wrapped in.

Well, technically, psychosis can consist of hallucinations, delusions, or both. Feeling that you have 'special powers' that other people don't have is (usually) a delusion. So in that sense it is a psychotic feature.

People with bipolar often have delusions (especially grandiose or persecutory delusions) when they are manic. But it's pretty rare for a bipolar person to have hallucinations when they are manic.

Personally, I have had both mild grandiose delusions (thought I was extremely smart/a genius) and stronger persecutory delusions (thought people at work were plotting against me, thought a guy in my class was going to bring a gun to school and shoot everyone). My delusions are always when I'm manic.

Now, if you ALWAYS feel that you have a special gift from god (not just when you are manic...but all the time), that's not really a delusion. In that case I would say you are just really religious. The difference is that in one case you only feel like you have this 'special gift' at certain times (when you are manic). In the other case, you feel like you have this 'special gift' regardless of your mood.

I would say most faith healers and stuff probably aren't delusional/psychotic, because they always feel they have the gift. They are just really really religious.

I am very in tune with God. I know he hears me when I pray. Its just much more pronounced when i am manic, feels like hes always right there with me. Its very interesting to me that others feel this and I believe it is God there with us. I have known for a long time he will be there when I need him most. Maybe he is there to guide me and keep me in line. Im very pleased that I have that in me, as Im sure everyone else is too. Its really amazing.

Well, since you are always in tune with God, I don't think you are delusional or psychotic. Everything, every feeling, is more pronouned when you are manic, so it would be natural for your connection with God to also be more pronounced when your manic.

Just cherish your spirtuality. I don't believe in God myself, but I kinda wish I did. I think it would bring me comfort.

He is very comforting. Knowing that he is there brings an enourmous amount of relief. Im not trying to preach to you. I do hope you find your comfort with him one day though.

I hope so too.

Not believing in God is not a choice I made. I have just never felt a connection with God. If he exists, he has never revealed himself to me. Perhaps he will, one day.

Well I know whos in my prayers tonight.

Aw...so sweet! *hugs*

Thank you for understanding and not judging me.

I am not a Christian, but I do feel the connection you are talking about. I think we might all have different paths to the same thing.

Psychosis and cultural, spiritual beliefs, it's a pretty blurry line. I'm not willing to write off spiritual experiences as psychosis alone. I was happy and not so happy when I looked up psychosis and saw that by definition cultural and religious psychosis was defined differently, less happy that it still was considered psychosis.

Oh Moremi, the spiders sensation, crawling on you, can be what's called tactile hallucinations. Or it could just be your fear.

Bipolarmedstudent, perhaps your path will just look different. Or your connection will cone in another form.

I just wanted to tell you that I understand what you're saying and believe you 100%.

I'm a Christian but have became distant with God in these hard times, so you give me faith that people can stay close to God through the storm. It's very inspiring! Just wanted to say thanks for this