Psychotic disorder is a term that is used to describe a number of mental health conditions. These conditions can include schizoaffective disorder and delusional disorder. They are serious illnesses that affect the mind, and they make it hard for people to make decisions, respond emotionally, or communicate effectively. In some cases, they can also impact your ability to behave appropriately and to understand reality.
Many people are not aware that their symptoms might be connected with a psychotic disorder. Symptoms of these conditions usually increase in severity when there is no treatment plan in place to help manage them. These conditions might show up with mild symptoms at first and gradually become more and more debilitating to the person suffering from them. Getting treatment for your psychotic disorder can greatly improve your daily life and make it much easier to go to work and care for your family.
The different types of psychotic disorders can manifest different symptoms. Some people might suffer from more than one of these conditions and thus experience a wide range of symptoms when they are not getting treatment. Receiving an accurate diagnosis is important when managing psychotic disorders and their negative impact on patients’ daily lives.
The common symptoms associated with psychotic disorders are:
There are other symptoms that can be associated with psychotic disorders as well:
The causes of psychotic disorders are not clearly understood. Those who research these conditions believe that genetics often play a role in these conditions. Other factors like drug use or abuse and major life changes might trigger a psychotic disorder. People can spend many years of their lives without suffering from these conditions and then start showing symptoms abruptly after a change of circumstance in their life.
For those suffering from schizophrenia, there seems to be a link between nerve cell receptors in the brain that do not work properly. These receptors seem not to interact correctly with a brain chemical that is called glutamate. This requires more study but appears to be a potentially positive development in the understanding of schizophrenia.
These conditions tend to appear after the late teens. Those who are aged 16 to 30 are most at risk for the development of psychotic disorders.
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The diagnosis of the various psychotic disorders can be time-consuming. The more accurate the diagnosis of your condition, the better your treatment protocol will be. Your doctor will likely start out collecting a full health history to be able to rule out physical conditions that are contributing to your psychotic disorder’s symptoms.
You will likely then be referred to a mental healthcare provider to have testing done to see which psychotic disorder you are suffering from. The diagnosis of these conditions greatly impacts the treatment protocols used to attend to them, so correct assessment is vital.
Medications and psychotherapy are used in combination to treat most psychotic disorders. Your doctor and your mental health professional will work together to create a treatment protocol that will help you to manage your symptoms and to stop problems like hallucinations and delusions.
There are many older medications like Thorazine, Prolixin, and Loxitane that are still used to treat psychotic disorders. There are also many new medications like Saphris, Rexulti, and Clozaril that can be used to help treat psychotic disorders as well.