9 TYPES of PSYCHOSIS

  • Jan 20, 2022
click fraud protection
types of psychosis

"You're crazy!" A very common phrase in the vocabulary of our society and that has generally negative connotations. Fortunately, this expression is used less and less, or at least, we are all more aware of it. the implications of saying this to someone and the importance of not stigmatizing people persons.

But how does a person with psychosis act? The symptomatology that some mental health disorders present are: delusional ideas, disorganized speech and strange behavior. All these alterations, historically linked to madness, are called psychotic spectrum disorders. In this Psychology-Online article we will discuss the 9 types of psychosis most relevant, with their respective symptoms and treatments. So if you are interested, keep reading!

You may also like: Types of childhood psychosis and their causes

Index

  1. Schizophrenia
  2. Schizophreniform disorder
  3. brief psychotic disorder
  4. delusional disorder
  5. Schizoaffective disorder
  6. catatonia
  7. Substance- or medication-induced psychotic disorder
  8. shared psychotic disorder
  9. delirium

Schizophrenia.

It is important to note that schizophrenia does not have a clinical picture but rather there are multiple characteristic and diversified symptoms between emotions, personality, cognition and motor activity. In other words, it is a multisystem disease in which we can also observe structural brain abnormalities.

If you were wondering what the most common psychosis is, perhaps this type is one of the most studied and most popularly known psychotic disorders to date. Next, we reveal the characteristic signs, which are the classic symptoms of psychosis.

psychotic symptoms

It should be said that some authors distinguish that two large groups of symptoms may appear in people with schizophrenia:

  1. Positive symptoms: it is everything that appears again since you have the disease, distortions or exaggerations of normal functions. We can find:
  • hallucinations.
  • Delusions.
  • Disorganized speech.
  • Strange behavior.
  1. 2. negative symptoms: is the decrease in normal functions, everything that the person has lost since the onset of the disease. We can find:
  • Alogia.
  • affective flattening.
  • Abulia/ Apathy.
  • Anhedonia.

Others, however, classify the symptoms in 3 dimensions:

  1. psychotic symptoms: delusions and hallucinations.
  2. disorganized symptoms: broken speech, disorganized behavior and inappropriate affectivity.
  3. negative symptoms: language poverty, abulia, anhedonia, affective flattening.

Lastly, we will discuss the 6 symptoms fundamental pointing Blue:

  • Alogia.
  • affective flattening.
  • Abulia.
  • Isolation.
  • Ambivalence.
  • Reduced attention.

Treatment

Treatment for schizophrenia is chronic by nature of the disorder, and consists ofTwo parts essential:

  1. biological therapy: includes electroconvulsive therapy, increasingly in disuse, and pharmacological therapy, with the administration of neuroleptics (antipsychotics) and anticholinergics to counteract side effects from antipsychotics.
  2. psychosocial therapy: integrates social and psychological family therapy, social skills and self-help groups.

so a ideal treatment would be the one that, as mentioned by Brenner et al., integrates and works different aspects:

  • Cognitive differentiation.
  • Social perception.
  • Verbal communication.
  • Social skills.
  • Resolution of interpersonal problems.
  • Psychoeducation and family therapy.
  • Social case management.
  • cognitive rehabilitation.
  • Professional rehabilitation.
  • Early detection and intervention.

We also found other alternative treatments to the conventional ones that have shown efficacy if they are implanted together:

  • Penicillin (decreases endotoxemia).
  • Sleep cures that allow you to increase slow-wave sleep and reduce the energetic demands of the CNS (Central Nervous System).
  • Hyperbaric oxygen chamber (a mega dose of oxygen).
  • Carbon dioxide through hypopressive exercises or breathing in a cardboard bag, since it favors the elimination of glutamate and aspartate).
  • Acetazolamide, a drug recognized for its effectiveness in cancer that, despite having some side effects, could be considered.
  • Lithium for its calming effect.
  • Vitamins (C, E, D, A).
  • Aspirin for its anti-inflammatory effect.
  • Thyroid hormones as they increase energy availability and retain sodium and magnesium.
  • Sodium, magnesium that counteract potassium and calcium.
Types of psychosis - Schizophrenia

Schizophreniform disorder.

Schizophreniform disorder has same clinical picture as schizophrenia with a single difference: the symptoms are present for a period of less than 6 months. That is, there is usually a return to premorbid functioning once the psychotic episode has resolved.

psychotic symptoms

  • delusions.
  • hallucinations.
  • Disorganization.
  • Catatonia.
  • Flattening.
  • Apathy.
  • Anhedonia.
  • Cognitive impairment in: attention, memory and executive functions.
  • Affective symptomatology: dysphoria, depression and autolysis.
  • Behavior changes: socio-labour, family and interpersonal dysfunction and loss of autonomy.

Treatment

As it is a shorter period of the presence of symptoms, the treatment is usually pharmacological and for a limited period of one year.

Click on the following article if you want to know more about it Schizophreniform disorder: what is it, symptoms and treatment.

brief psychotic disorder

This type of brief psychotic disorder has an abrupt onset and a duration between 1 day and a month. Once it turned out Psychotic attack, a return to the premorbid state of functioning is observed.

On the other hand, there is prior vulnerability due to family history and there is a precipitating factor that is normally an external factor. In addition, brief psychotic disorder may present with emotional lability and bizarre behavior, having the presence of 1 or more symptoms.

psychotic symptoms

  • delusions.
  • Hallucinations.
  • Disorganized language.
  • Catatonic or severely disorganized behavior.

Treatment

When a single psychotic episode appears, the most used treatment is administration of anxiolytics immediately, as well as an antipsychotic for one day when the crisis is detected.

It would also be advisable to take vitamin supplements, diet control, physical exercise, psychological attention and psychoeducation about the event and follow-up by the medical teams in case the episode recurs or requires a Psychological attention more personalized.

delusional disorder

Another type of psychosis is delusional disorder, which manifests itself mainly in the existence of the delusional idea. These are usually "not strange" and systematized ideas, very well built in the patient. Now, in delusional disorder there is an absence of other psychotic symptoms present in schizophrenia; It is a key way in the appearance of hallucinations linked to the delusional theme.

psychotic symptoms

  • Affective state in line with the delusional theme.
  • Absence of judgment of illness.
  • Areas of functioning affected according to the content of the delusion.
  • There is no significant impairment of psychosocial activity.

Treatment

The treatment of delusional disorder is very complex due to the irrationality of the central idea. Despite this, the treatment followed is from the cognitive-behavioral orientation, through cognitive restructuring and confrontation.

The purpose is to increase the person's capacity for rational judgment towards himself and try to dismantle the construction that he has made around the delusional idea. If necessary, especially if there are hallucinations, it will be treated pharmacologically with antipsychotics.

Check out our post about Delusional disorder: what it is, DSM V symptoms, treatment and how to act; if you want more information about this type of psychosis.

Types of psychosis - Delusional disorder

Schizoaffective disorder.

Next on our list of types of psychosis is schizoaffective disorder, which shows schizophrenia symptoms and, in turn, also shows signs of a affective disorder. It should also be said that there may be two subtypes: bipolar or depressive.

Symptoms

  • Depressive or manic symptoms, along with symptoms of schizophrenia.
  • Delusional symptoms or hallucinations, in the absence of affective symptoms.
  • Affective symptoms, as an important component of the disease.

Treatment

The treatment to follow in this case Depends on subtype of disorder schizoaffective that we are talking about, as well as the manifest concrete symptoms. Therefore, the treatment of schizophrenia will be continued together with depressive or bipolar treatment if it is also necessary, at a pharmacological and psychological level.

Likewise, it will not be strange that we find medication guidelines with antipsychotics and antidepressants, for example.

Check out our next article on Schizoaffective Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prognosis if you want to know more about this type of psychosis.

Catatonia.

It is a neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by manifestation of motor abnormalities that occur in association with alterations of consciousness, affect and thought. In addition, in this type of psychosis there is an absence of will and mobility.

To talk about catatonia we will need to observe 3 or more signs characteristics, which may be associated with another mental disorder or may be due to another medical condition.

Symptoms

  • Stupor.
  • Catalepsy.
  • Waxy flexibility.
  • Mutism.
  • Negativism.
  • Adoption of a posture.
  • Mannerism.
  • Agitation not influenced by external stimuli.
  • Silly faces.
  • Echolalia.
  • Echopraxia.

Treatment

The initial treatment of choice for catatonia is benzodiazepines and barbiturates, especially lorazepam in the first 48-72 hours orally, and if no response is observed, intravenously. In patients who do not respond to the use of lorazepam, electroconvulsive therapy has been indicated.

In the diagnosis of response to treatment, it is always good to intervene in the acute periodHowever, the use of antipsychotics is contraindicated as it usually worsens the prognosis.

To learn more about this type of psychosis, see our article on Catatonia: meaning, symptoms, causes and treatment.

Types of psychosis - Catatonia

Substance- or medication-induced psychotic disorder.

Among the types of psychosis, the induced by substances or medications is characterized by the development of symptoms during or after poisoning, either in a state of withdrawal from the substance or after exposure to a drug.

In other words, this drug has the capacity to produce some of the characteristic signs of this psychotic disorder. On the other hand, to identify the psychotic disorder induced by substances or medication, it is necessary to present 1 or more of the symptoms common.

psychotic symptoms

  • Hallucinations.
  • Delusions.

Treatment

In this case, unlike a psychotic disorder not induced by any substance, the treatment will consist of substance deprivation that has been the cause of the psychotic episode so that all the manifest symptoms subside.

Shared psychotic disorder.

To know what type of disorder shared psychosis is, it must be clear that it is manifested by the development of a delusional idea in a subject in the context of a close relationship with other people who already had an established delusional idea.

That is, the delusional idea is similar in content to someone else's I already had the delusional idea. Thus, the disturbance is not better explained by the presence of another psychotic disorder or a mood disorder with psychotic features.

Furthermore, it can be said that the establishment of the delusional idea is not due to the physiological effects of a substance or medical illness.

psychotic symptoms

  • Affective state in line with the delusional theme.
  • Absence of judgment of illness.
  • Areas of functioning affected according to the content of the delusion.

Treatment

It will be the same that we will follow in the delusional disorder.

Types of psychoses - Shared psychotic disorder

Delirium.

In delirium, although hallucinations and delusions are common, a separate diagnosis of psychotic disorder is not made due to another medical condition.

psychotic symptoms

  • Altered level of consciousness and attention that fluctuate over time.
  • Alteration of the cognitive sphere.
  • Perceptual disturbance: visual hallucinations, usually.
  • Alterations in the content of thought: persecutory delusions.
  • Alteration of the affective sphere.
  • Alteration at the motor level.
  • Altered sleep-wake rhythms.
  • Somatic signs and symptoms such as incontinence, hypertension, gait disturbance, sweating, etc.

Treatment

Symptoms of confusional syndrome or delirium are treated with antipsychotics by the doctor or psychiatrist. At the same time, the organic cause that has caused it is treated and if it has no treatment, palliative treatments are carried out.

Finally, mention that some diseases and even other mental disorders such as depression or dementia, may occur with some of the psychotic symptoms (hallucinations and/or delusions), and this will be specified in the diagnosis. For example: Major depressive disorder with psychotic features.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to types of psychosis, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

Bibliography

  • American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5. Madrid Spain. Pan American Medical Publishing.
  • Belloch, A., Sandin, B., Ramos, F., (2009). Manual of psychopathology, volume II. Madrid. McGraw Hill / Interamericana de España, S.A.U.
  • Carlson, N. R. (2014). physiology of behavior. Madrid. Pearson Education, S.A.
  • Crespo, M. L., & Pérez, V. (2005). Catatonia: a neuropsychiatric syndrome. Colombian Journal of Psychiatry, 34(2), 251-266.
instagram viewer