Table of contents:
- Psychotic break: causes
- Schizophrenia and psychotic break the same?
- Psychotic break: symptoms
- Treatment of psychotic break
- How to deal with a psychotic break
- Aftermath of a psychotic break: how to treat it
A psychotic disorder is a mental condition that encompasses certain types of illnesses such as: schizophrenia, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, brief psychotic disorder, shared psychotic disorder, substance use disorder, and psychotic disorder due to a medical illness. Within this type of disorder there are certain symptoms that characterize them, the most common symptom and that is maintained in all these types of pathologies, psychotic outbreaks.
In this Psychology-Online article we will talk about the psychotic outbreak: causes, symptoms and treatment, we will explain in detail everything you need to know about this topic.
You may also be interested in: Aftermath of a psychotic break Index- Psychotic break: causes
- Psychotic break: symptoms
- Treatment of psychotic break
- Aftermath of a psychotic break: how to treat it
Psychotic break: causes
There are different factors that can cause a psychotic break to develop in a person. Some of the causes of the psychotic break are the following:
- Biological factors. When the person presents some cerebral alteration or does not produce the sufficient amount of neurotransmitters to have a greater psychic balance. This can occur due to excessive drug use or experiencing continuous and intense stress.
- Psychological factors. Psychotic outbreaks can appear more commonly in people who present certain personality traits such as schizotypal, schizoid and / or paranoid traits.
Schizophrenia and psychotic break the same?
But what is a psychotic break? A psychotic outbreak occurs when the person experiencing it begins to have delusions and hallucinations temporarily, totally avoiding reality. That is to say, at that moment the person does not distinguish what is real from fantasy and everything he sees or hears in the form of hallucination he considers as authentic, as if it were actually happening. Schizophrenia is a large set of symptoms in which psychotic outbreaks stand out, however it is a more stable disease over time and with a more complicated treatment.
Psychotic break: symptoms
When a person has a psychotic break, they present a series of characteristic symptoms. Among the main ones are the following:
- Hallucinations The person can see, hear, feel and smell things that are clearly not present in reality. Generally, the hallucinations that people with a psychotic outbreak present the most are auditory ones and they can, for example, hear voices that tell them what to do or even have the sensation of hearing voices that say nonsense things, among other things.. The least frequent hallucinations are visual ones and in some cases the person may have hallucinations that involve several senses.
- Delusions The person begins to imagine events or situations and confuse them with reality. For example, you may have the belief at some point that you are a fugitive from justice and that you are being hunted by the police, so you have to be hiding so that they will not find you.
- Disorganized language and thinking. They tend to have thoughts continuously incoherent and without a true meaning. They also tend to move quickly from one thought to another so it is impossible for them to concentrate when having a conversation with someone. Due to this, their language also becomes disorganized and incoherent, saying things that have absolutely nothing with the subject in question.
- Catatonic or disorganized behavior Interact inappropriately with their environment. For example, they can become immobile or extremely rigid or on the contrary they can act impulsively and with an excessive increase in their motor activity in an unpredictable way.
Treatment of psychotic break
One of the main doubts when faced with an episode of psychosis is knowing how to treat it. First of all, we must bear in mind that the treatment of the psychotic outbreak is as follows:
- Psychiatric treatment: antipsychotic drugs are often essential to treat psychosis
- Psychological support: as we have commented previously, the causes of the psychotic outbreak are usually psychological, so if we use the appropriate therapies, we can prevent future episodes of psychosis
- Help from the environment: the social context is a good tool to help a person who has suffered a psychotic break. Above all, it is necessary for the patient to have sufficient social support to improve their condition and prognosis of the mental disorder they present.
How to deal with a psychotic break
When a person has a psychotic outbreak, the first thing to do is take them to a professional and have them determine if the outbreak has been induced due to a medical illness or because they have consumed any substance or drug that may have influenced to present the psychotic break.
It is necessary to submit the person to a comprehensive neurological and physical examination so that the professional can also determine with more certainty if it is an eventual situation caused by other types of factors or if the person suffers from a psychotic disorder.
Aftermath of a psychotic break: how to treat it
The treatment for psychosis and the aftermath of the psychotic outbreak, especially when the person already has a psychotic disorder, must be a combination of certain drugs in charge of eliminating the symptoms of psychosis, psychological therapy individually and even at the family level. to help those close to the patient to know how to deal with this situation and to help their family member to reduce relapses.
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 Psychotic Outbreak: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical Psychology.
References- Ballesteros, JB (2009, April 21). Psychotic breakouts. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from
- García Cerdán, AGC (2016, December 7). Psychotic Outbreak: What is it, causes, detection and how to act when faced with a psychosis. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from