I guess it’s ok to say the fo  llowing is an amazing article- even though I wrote it! I am so proud and pleased with how this turned out. It’s the first explanation that I know of regarding the differences between the psychosis found in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and the psychosis found in mood disorders that have mania and depression mood swings.  You will learn that the differences are quite large- but often confused. Please let me know what you think.  Here is a link to the article on the website www.healthyplace.com

 Click here to read the article:                 Julie Fast psychosis article on HealthyPlace.com

I feel this is especially helpful for family members, partners and friends of those with bipolar disorder.  Bipolar disorder psychosis is  SO confusing as it’s always present with either depression or mania.

Please let me know what you think of the article.  I have a new one coming soon from www.healthyplace.com and will keep you posted.

Please note that healthyplace.com shows the article section by section and you will need to click over to the next section!

Julie

PS: I wrote this when I was quite depressed- so it’s a testament that we can work to the best of our ability when we are ill. I missed a deadline for the first time in my career- but that is how it goes- what matters is that I finished. The depression went away eventually as it always does.

I doubt you ever expected to read the words exciting and bipolar psychosis in the same sentence! But this is an exciting event. I recently wrote a very comprehensive article on Bipolar Disorder Psychosis and how it differs from the psychosis found in other disorders such as schizophrenia.  I wrote about my experience writing the article quite often on this blog. It was intense.

The article was published today on the website HealthyPlace.com.

I will be the guest on the HealthyPlace.com mental health TV show this evening.  I look foward to talking with people about bipolar disorder psychosis as it is very misunderstood and often under diagnosed and treated.

Here is the link to the Psychosis 101 article in full.

Here is the link to watch and possibly participate in the Web TV showon healthyplace.com

I hope you can join me.

Julie

I just received the following question from Kimbriel,

Julie, I thought that people w/ Bipolar II don’t get psychotic? Or did you have a psychotic depression?

Hi Kimbriel,

Believe it or not, I’m writing an article on psychosis right now. People with bipolar II can defintely get psychotic. I’ve had psychotic symptoms since age 19. Mine are always with depression – as it’s rare for someone with bipolar II to have psychosis with hypomania.

The difference is in intensity- people with bipolar I have full blown psychosis – usually with mania. In fact, 70% of people with full blown mania have full blown psychosis at the same time. This is when most people have to go to the hopsital and often have to be committed by a family member!

I will let everyone know when the psychosis article is ready. It’s for healthyplace.com.

 Thanks for writing!

Julie

PS: Here is an explanation of the difference between bipolar i and bipolar II. If you are new to bipolar disorder terms, I think you will find this helpful.

Hi Julie,

Recently, my daughter switched from Risperdal to Abilify. I am hoping Abilify will be good for her, contrary to what I have heard. Do you have any information regarding the success of bipolar people on Abilify?
T.

Hi T.

Risperdal and Abilify are anti psychotic drugs. They are often used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. If a person is really manic or psychotic and has to go to the hospital, anti psychotic are often use to get the person to come down from the mania and psychosis. The dose is often very high. When my partner Ivan was so sick in 1994, he was immediately put on anti psychotics and mood stabilizers just to get him out of the mania, so this is common.

What a person takes depends on their symptoms. Many people with bipolar disorder do well on a mood stabilizer such as Lithium. I do well on a depression, rapid cycling prevention drug like Lamictal. I can’t take anti psychotics due to side effects. Anti psychotics are often used in combination with other bipolar disorder treatment drugs.

Abilify is a relatively new anti psychotic and is known to have less side effects than some other well known drugs such as Zyprexa, especially in terms of weight gain. This doesn’t mean it’s a better drug than Zyprexa- just that it’s a good choice for many who gain too much weight.

Abilify can be agitating, so that has to be watched. It just makes me sleep!

What matters is that the drug works. Finding a right dose can take a lot of time. It’s a balance between effectiveness and side effects.

So, this is a long answer to a short question- yes, people with bipolar disorder use Abilify. It works for many. It is not a treatment for depression, nor is it a traditional anti manic drug. It is mainly for psychosis.

I suggest your daughter uses her Health Cards for psychosis and sees if the drug helps.

Your daughter has to make sure she is on all of the right meds.

She is so lucky to have a mother who looks out for her!

Julie

Manic/Psychotic Talk

“He blew a glass jacket. The walls were mayo and I was chewing all of the dirt off of the vegetables.”

The above is known as a word salad ( no pun intended!) – the sayings are close enough for us to understand them – but overall, they just make no sense.

A psychotic friend of mine said the above during an episode.

Psychosis is a fascinating topic- it’s horrible to experience and horrific to see someone go through it- I have been through both.  But after it is over, you can certainly be fascinated by what was said.

Julie

Paranoia is a form of psychosis- so there is a good chance that – if you have bipolar disorder- you have experienced paranoia.

Paranoia is a feeling/belief/thought that you have done something wrong and that someone or some organization is upset with you for doing this perceived something!

It’s easy to see what a mess paranoia can cause. I’m sending out a newsletter on this in a few days. If you go to bipolarhappens.com you can sign up for the newsletter.  
 
Paranoia used to really cause me a lot of trouble. I have worked hard so that I can at least recognize it before it makes me do something stupid! So, I’m paranoid today, but I didn’t do anything stupid!

Julie

Hi Julie,

In your radio show you spoke of your “brain chatter”? Can you explain what you mean by this? (You may have explained it already and I missed it.) For myself, sometimes I just run the same words over and over in my head when I am anxious, maybe in a group of people. I do not believe it to be psychosis (i.e. audio hallucinations), or even a delusion, but one thing I do know it to be: annoying. It is even as if it exists in a certain physical location in my skull.

Weird—huh?

I told my sister about it who said, “No you don’t!”
I lied and agreed with her, “You’re right, I don’t.” 

C.

Hi C.

Ah, brain chatter. This is what I call the brain in a blender feeling I get when I’m sick. I have so many thoughts and sounds in my head I have trouble functioning. It’s like having a group of people following me around while talking to each other through my ears.

I get it with agitated depression – the opposite would be catatonic depression where I don’t really have thoughts at all.

Agitated depression is noisy- there are often comments about what you’re doing wrong and how you’re never succeed. You can hear conversations you have already had or ones you’re going to have.

The brain chatter is really bad when I’m psychotic as the noises are distorted and very confusing. They just won’t be quiet. Sometimes I hear someone talking to me or feel like I’m at a very loud party where I’m not a welcome guest.

You can have manic brain chatter as well.

I simply use the term brain chatter to mean the thoughts, sounds, noises, voices, music, etc in your head that you don’t want there. You didn’t ask for it and you want it to go away so that you can think clearly.

When I started to get a lot better last year, the main improvement was LESS BRAIN CHATTER.

My book Get it Done When You’re Depressed has techniques for getting rid of it.

That’s funny that you had to lie to your sister! We can’t expect everyone to understand our weird brains!

Julie