Psychotic Disorder

What Is a Psychotic Disorder?

Medically Reviewed by Jennifer Casarella, MD on September 04, 2022

Psychotic disorders are a group of serious illnesses that affect the mind. They make it hard for someone to think clearly, make good judgments, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, understand reality, and behave appropriately.

When symptoms are severe, people with psychotic disorders have trouble staying in touch with reality and often are unable to handle daily life. But even severe psychotic disorders usually can be treated.

Causes

Doctors don’t know the exact cause of psychotic disorders. Researchers believe that many things play a role. Some psychotic disorders tend to run in families, which means that the disorder may be partly inherited. Other things may also influence their development, including stress, drug abuse, and major life changes.

People with certain psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, may also have problems in parts of the brain that control thinking, perception, and motivation.

In schizophrenia, experts believe that nerve cell receptors that work with a brain chemical called glutamate may not work properly in specific brain regions. That glitch may contribute to problems with thinking and perception.

These conditions usually first appear when a person is in their late teens, 20s, or 30s. They tend to affect men and women about equally. more

Cybersecurity Mental Health Warning — 1 In 6 CISOs Now Medicate Or Use Alcohol

A new global study of cybersecurity professionals has revealed the true extent to which the stresses and pressures facing the average CISO impact upon both professional and personal life. It should come as no surprise that stress is part of the job description for the CISO, and every one of the 408 questioned for the Life Inside the Perimeter: Understanding the Modern CISO report, commissioned by Nominet, said they were indeed experiencing stress. However, that 17% said that they had turned to medication or alcohol to help deal with that stress should be a statistic that shocks us all.

Stress is undoubtedly playing a part as far as the decline in the mental health of the modern CISO is concerned; 91% of the CISOs surveyed said the levels of stress they were suffering was moderate or high and 60% rarely disconnected from their work role. That 88% worked more than 40 hours per week isn’t a shocker, nor the 27% that work up to 60 hours, but with 1 in 5 being available 24/7 and 89% of U.S. based CISOs never having had a two week break from their job, the true extent of this disconnect problem becomes clear. more

Dual Diagnosis: Why Substance Abuse Worsens Your Mental Health

Drinking and drugs worsen anxiety, depression, other problems

Mental illness can overwhelm those who are affected and their loved ones. Substance abuse is similarly distressing for addicts, alcoholics and families.

When the two problems merge, a bigger challenge arises: dual diagnosis, or co-occurrence. “We see a large overlap between substance use disorders and mental health issues,” says psychiatrist Mohsen Vazirian, MD.

“For example, substance use disorders are twice as common in those diagnosed with anxiety or depression than they are in the general population.” more

A Rural Community Decided To Treat Its Opioid Problem Like A Natural Disaster

When he was police chief of Stanwood, Wash., population 7,000, Ty Trenary thought rural communities like his were immune from the opioid crisis.

Then, one day, a mother walked through his door and said, “Chief, you have a heroin problem in your community.”

“And I remember thinking, ‘Well that’s not possible,’ ” Trenary recalls. “This is Stanwood and heroin is in big cities with homeless populations. It’s not in rural America.”

Last year leaders declared the opioid epidemic a life-threatening emergency. The county is now responding to the drug crisis as if it were a natural disaster, the same way they’d mobilize to respond to a landslide or flu pandemic. more

DARK DAYS Tyson Fury reveals harrowing story of suicide attempt during depression, voice that saved his life

The former unified heavyweight world champion fell to an astonishing low after achieving his ultimate high

Tyson Fury has told the shocking story of his depression-induced suicide attempt for the first time. Having previously admitted to mental health issues and drug addiction during his time away from boxing in 2016 and 2017, Fury is known to have endured a tortuous spell in his life after winning the world heavyweight titles.

However, he has now revealed the lowest point of this period – when he attempted to take his own life.
“I tried to commit suicide,” Fury told the Joe Rogan Podcast, “I’ll tell you what happened.

“I was waking up and I didn’t want to be alive, I was making everybody’s life a misery, everybody who was close to me I was pushing away.
“Nobody could talk any sense into me at all and I’d go very, very, very low at times, very low. And I’d start thinking all these crazy thoughts.
“I bought a brand new Ferrari convertible in the summer of 2016, and I was in it and I was on this strip of the highway where I am. more

Heroin and human sleep

Abstract

It has been suggested that drugs of addiction, e.g. barbiturates, cause suppression of REM sleep followed by immediate withdrawal rebound. In rats it has been demonstrated that morphine will suppress REM sleep and, in a pilot study of withdrawal in humans, there was a delayed REM sleep rebound.

1.: A: Four normal male volunteers had a subcutaneous injection of 7.5 mg heroin on 3 successive nights. During this period the percentage of REM sleep was decreased with respect to baseline values for these subjects and showed a trend back to control values over the 3 nights. On withdrawal there was a moderate but immediate percentage of REM sleep increase which, over the first 3 h of sleep, was significant. more