A Blog About Psychosis

Modern psychiatry can do wonderful things. No longer are patients chained to the wall for people to come and laugh at, or sent to asylums for their entire lives. Just a pill a day can help reduce symptoms. But it isn't the be all and end all, especially when it comes to psychosis. Anti psychotics in particular have some nasty side effects. The worst one has to be weight gain. Anti psychotics affect both appetite and metabolism. At the moment I'm at a weight increase of three stone. Another side effect is double vision. I'm writing this with one eye closed, because the screen is so blurry. Medication is a balancing act, a careful tightrope walk between doctor and patient, increasing and decreasing, swapping and changing until just the right combination of drug is found. And again, there is no one size fits all. It's different for everyone. Next week I'm due to start lithium, a mood stabiliser. I'm worried about it, because I don't know how it's ...

So what's it like to live with voices? Everyone will have a different experience, but for me, challenging. To have a derogatory voice inside your head makes everyday interactions and life in general quite difficult. Sometimes it will shout at me, making me jump. Other times it will whisper in my ear when I'm having a conversation with someone, there in the background like an annoying buzzing fly. Some people experience kind or encouraging voices, but unfortunately mine only seems to have bad things to say. There are many ideas around treatment for living with voices.  In my experience psychiatrists generally want to be rid of the voice, and a variety of medications are given to hopefully reduce the voice completely. Hearing voices groups are more focussed on talking about the experiences, and having mutual support to learn to cope with the voices. People attending may or may not take medication. Psychologists work with the person hearing voices to understand the voice...