another coping post, people have told me to update it a bit and not limit the skills to delusions and auditory hallucinations. so now, the bigger and better coping post for psychotic symptoms (not just schizophrenia!) and i wonât do the âkeep readingâ thing, even though itâs a veeeery big post, because i kind of want people to see it.Â
⢠try to manage your stress - psychotic symptoms has quite a lot to with stress. itâs also important for any mental health issue.Â
⢠donât âself-medicateâ - marijuana has shown to make psychotic symptoms worse and makes the risk of falling back into a psychosis bigger. other substances that can trigger/worsen/even cause psychotic symptoms are cocaine, speed, crystal meth, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms and ketamine
⢠take care of yourself - selfcare, mindfulsness, exercise, eat reguraly and healthy, sleep well⌠you get the idea.
⢠know your early signs - itâs good to know when you start getting signs of another episode, so you can adjust your medication or talk to your doctor more often so you can avoid another episode. early signs may be sleeping less or more, isolation, being annoyed or thinking âis medication even necessery?â i
⢠donât isolate youself - this is a early symptom for me, before i get a psychotic episode, i often isolate myself and hate the world. that often lead to me being alone with my delusions and they get worse. so try to see friends often, especially when you have early signs.Â
⢠relax - voices are often caused by stress, so try to focus on your breathing.
⢠distract yourself - focus on a task or watch tv.
⢠ask your voices a question, that you dont know the answer to - if they dont know the answer the voices must be coming from within you.
⢠background sounds - people have reported that listening to music or having the tv on sort of drowns the voices.
⢠talk back to your voices - ask them to leave and say no if they order you to do things, remind yourself whoâs in control.
⢠know your triggers - it may help to keep a diary of when the voices are more active.
⢠medication - modern anti-psychotics are 80-90% effective in revieling voices and will often make them disappear.
⢠hum or sing - it drowns the voices as well as distract you.
⢠read out loud - same with hum or sing
⢠open your mouth really wide - i have no idea why or if this works, but you can try it!Â
⢠just a symptom - try to think of your voices as just a symptom, and not something that has a special meaning. after all, itâs just a random thought you can hear.
this is quite a hard one, i havenât experienced much visual hallucinations, so i donât personally know what works and what doesnât. and i donât find much about it on internet. if you have any coping skills for visual hallucinations, let me know and iâll include it!Â
⢠take a picture - if youâre unsure something is there you can try taking a pictureÂ
⢠turn away - or break eye contact, leave the room. if you donât see it itâs not thereÂ
⢠shine on them  - if you see shadows you can try shining light on them from your phone flashlightÂ
⢠medication - well, yeah, you get the idea. they work.Â
⢠five senses method - acknowledge five things you can see; four things you can touch; three things you can hear; two things you can smell; one things you can taste.Â
⢠ keep your pet near - if you have a pet it may help to tell you if something is real or not. if your pet doesnât react you can assume itâs not real.Â
⢠distraction - try to take your mind of it, even though itâs not that simple.
⢠give them facts - checking facts and statistics may help
⢠talk about them - in my case, the more i talked about my thoughts, the more unrealistic they seemed. That may not happen to everyone, but it is helpful to talk about them.
⢠know your trigggers - delusions are also good to know when theyâre more active.
⢠medication - antipsychotis arenât just helping for your hallucinations, but other symptoms as well - including delusions.
⢠count from one to three - start by thinking about (visualizing) the numbers in your head and focus on them before saying them aloud to align thought and speech centres of your brain.
trust me, i really wish i knew how to cope with the other symptoms. i donât personally have much advice, and i canât find much on internet, but if any of you know how to cope with these symptoms*, let me know and iâll include it!
*some other symptoms are:
negative symtptoms - this could be not having energy, feeling indifferent towards things and gestures may decrease.Â
catatonic behaviour - a bit more rare. itâs when the person stops moving and can be completely still for a long period of time.Â
disorganized behaviour - appears as a decline in overall daily functioning, unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses, behaviors that can appear bizarre and have no purpose, lack of impulse control.Â
trouble thinking -Â having too much thoughts or having slow thoughts
trouble functioning in social situations, isolation, trouble handling jobs or everyday chores.Â
also, a big thank you to you guys who come with advice, youâre awesomeÂ
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amandla
