Have any of you found any coping tools, for psychosis? I'm really struggling at the moment, and I'm coming up short. I'm just looking for any ideas I could try on my own to get me through, when the meds are not working I am thinking there must be at least a few coping skills.

Thanks for any input, I truly appreciate it.

[costello]

What exactly are you trying to cope with? Voices? Paranoia? Negative symptoms?

[MickG]

Hello Anika,

I have been on a number of medications in the past. Some of them had severe side effects and none of them reduced symptoms. I currently do not take medication because I have not found it to be beneficial to me though I expect others to find and use what works for them.

I have found other things that help me cope. Journaling has been a great help. I don’t just journal by writing thoughts and experiences down but I also document my journey in an electronic format which allows me to link to videos, music, art, articles, quotes and other things that speak to my experience. It helps me to organize my thoughts and has a calming effect on me.

There were times during psychosis when I was unable to document my thoughts and experience. I simply allowed myself time and wrote my thoughts down later. Sometimes the content is too deep and intense to try and figure out while in the midst of it.

Also, you may find therapy beneficial. I have found psychiatrists to be disinterested in anything other than medication therapy. A psychologist who has experience with patients with psychosis may provide additional support.

In addition, I have developed an internal coping mechanism with voices. I have an inner voice I created that engages them in banter. For some odd reason I find it helpful and it gives me some measure of control I would otherwise not have. I am not suggesting one sits and talks to voices all day. It is too easy to lose oneself. But it is about my right to stand up as a human being and take control of my own mind.

I sincerely hope you are able to cope better in time. Much peace

[mgran]

I have found that playing my instrument helps when I'm troubled by voices... if I can't play then I can listen to music on headphones. That helps.

Nothing really helps with vivid visual hallucinations, but the more minor ones I can ignore. Paranoia can be a big problem... I have to deliberately slow down and think of things one bit at a time, but even so, it can drive me up the wall. The only problem I have a real solution for is the auditories. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Right at the moment it's more visual, some audio but not a lot of voices.

Seeing little people ( 6 inches high) in my house and when I am out and about. Hearing my phone text msg sound repeatedly, but no msg's. Receiving msgs on my cell, but I only get a glimps of them before they disappear. I've used all my logical deduction to realize this is not real. I only get texts from my boyfriend and I have checked with him also. Yesterday I got a text of a long paragraph, it started with "you may experience noise while..." thats all I got before it disappeared. At first I thought it was from my cell company or something. But it's making me uncomfortable.

Hearing doors open and close, things like this. I try to remain as rational as I can but when I'm alone I do get scared. I've had a bit of delusions but nothing too bad right now.

Usually I just try to tell myself it's not real, it's just what it is and move along. That's getting harder to do right now.

Yes medication therapy, not really working right now, I can't afford a psychologist. I am wondering if I can get a referal from my Pdoc if it would then be covered by my health care. My T doesn't really say much when I ask her about coping with this. And my Pdoc is meds oriented.

I should be writing things down, that's a good idea.

[Perna]

It was greatly comforting to have someone else on "my side". My T told me to tell the men in my head that she didn't believe in them and that helped me because she is a small, oriental woman and the idea of my saying, "Excuse me, my T says she doesn't believe in you" and imagining their getting angry about it was amusing (since they were imaginary and couldn't literally do anything about it).

Maybe you can use us, reading this post, to get sort of the same comfort? I once had a hamster and use to put it in a "ball" so it could roam around the house. I also had two cats at the time and when I'd clean the hamster's cage, I'd put him in the ball and then when I wanted him again to put back in the cleaned cage, I'd look for the larger cats? Where he was, they were Once though I was watching and he was running in the ball, right at the cats and they didn't like that! LOL They jumped out of the way.

Since the little people are only 6 inches high, maybe you can threaten to stomp on them or get someone who truly doesn't believe in them to stomp on them? Tell them Perna will come over if they don't behave and leave you alone and stomp on them :-) Make arrangements of when you will call or be called by your boyfriend and turn off your cell phone completely for awhile? Go really look at all the doors in your house and talk to them/name them and make "friends" with them? Get them on your side so they don't scare you? I did the opposite with a vending machine at work because I didn't want to waste my money/calories on candy, etc.; I named it "Howard Huge" and gave it a gnome's ugly personality and characteristics, complete with dripping, snotty nose and dirty fingernails/poor, smelly hygiene. I actually got a bit afraid of the machine when I was in the break room by myself Do the opposite; if the doors scare you, go get to "know" them (look and "see" them, their mars and scars and scratches, ask them how they got them, check out if they squeak when opened/closed and maybe oil their hinges if they do, check how well they latch, etc. It's hard to be afraid of things we "know".

I asked my t yesterday about therapy for psychosis. She says there is nothing for it in terms of therapy. And no groups of any kind here for it either. I felt let down as I know there must be something. So I guess I just keep asking different people.

Perna,

That is so clever, I would not have thought of those ideas. I feel afraid to interact or acknowledge the hallucinations, but I think I can try that. I feel afraid of the little people because they "feel" bad. So I'm scared to get near them. I've been trying to get away from them. But maybe this new approach will help. I am going to try to squish at least one and see if I can do it. That might be the trick, confronting the fear instead of trying to run from it.

Thank you all, I found all your input helpful, and makes me feel less alone. Thank you so much. Xox

[costello]

Originally Posted by Anika

I asked my t yesterday about therapy for psychosis. She says there is nothing for it in terms of therapy. And no groups of any kind here for it either. I felt let down as I know there must be something. So I guess I just keep asking different people.

Do persist in trying to get therapy. There's no reason not to provide therapy to people in psychosis except that it's faster, easier, and cheaper (in the short run) to just hand out pills.

[Twisti]

I cant add anything thats not been mentioned already...but wanted to say I hope you get a bit of relief soon.

Thank you,

Not getting better yet, buy I am getting more paranoid.

[costello]

Originally Posted by Anika

Thank you,

Not getting better yet, buy I am getting more paranoid.

Oh, dear. Did you tell your doctor?

[mgran]

I'm sorry Anika... hang on in there, and talk to your doctor urgently.

I've been so busy the last week, with my daughter and her broken arm, She suffered a double compound fracture, and now some complications after her surgery on sunday, trips to the ER. I haven't had time to think about my own doctor. My mood seems to have taken a huge dive, a call to the pdoc will be neseccary.

I am really praying this dive to the bottom is only temporary, I don't think I can handle that right now. Antidepressants and me have never worked, sends me straight to mania and psychosis within a week or two. Uggh I did talk to my boyfriend about the paranoia , that helped a bit. I have a real hard time talking to people who don't suffer from these issues about them in depth. I'll call my pdoc today. I did talk to my t over the phone for a while. She is an aweome lady but not very skilled with this issue.

Thank you for the support here, it does help me hold it together. Thanks for listening.

[costello]

Anika:

I hope your daughter heals up quickly. Is it possible the stress surrounding her injury is contributing to your depression and paranoia?

Costello, I think that is the cause of the switch. My pdoc reminded me at my last app that what goes up must come down. I really hate that saying. So true tho.

My mood has gone back up, energy up , up up up. Spent two days completely in the lowest and now back up, I could feel my energy building yesterday afternoon, sleep was hard again last night and today I just feel a ton of energy, but really really fast.

False alert? stress? rapid cycling again? maybe a combo. Feel less paranoid today tho

[fellow]

When I wasn't on my medication I would cope by asking questions on the Internet (yahoo! answers, was one) and reading the responses. I had a lot of mental energy and that was a great outlet.

When you're not on medication, or if your medication isn't working, there's not much you can do in terms of preventing psychosis (this is based solely on my experience, by the way). However, I've heard of this one girl who was able to stop psychosis in its tracks by meditating. I've heard that transcendental meditation is a good one. Evidently it's great for the brain and can even make you smarter!