Bipolar Disorder II and Psychosis

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 [ Read More ]





Abilify and Bipolar Disorder: Reader Question

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, [ Read More ]





Bipolar Manic/Psychotic Talk

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