Having a psychotic episode refers to having an experience that causes someone to interpret the world around them differently. The main symptoms include but are not limited to:

• Hallucinations: People can experience different types of hallucinations, such as hearing voices, feeling things on their skin, or seeing things that others cannot.

• Delusions:  A delusion is a strong, false belief, often illogical and hard for others to understand, such as believing you are part of the royal family, can control the weather, or that the FBI is after you without reason.

• Disorganised thinking: Strong delusions and hallucinations can cause confusion, leading to illogical speech, rapid topic shifts, irrelevant answers, racing thoughts, and difficulty focusing.

‍

Psychosis can be a symptom of other mental disorders for example; schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, postpartum psychosis. You can however, experience psychosis on its own and there are various things that could trigger it.

• A traumatic event. Everyone’s mind processes trauma differently and for some people, they may develop symptoms of psychosis.
• Drug use. Psychosis is a side effect of some drugs. Everyone’s response and tolerance to street drugs and prescribed medication is different.
• Poor sleep. The longer people go without sleep, the more likely they are to hallucinate
• Physical illness or trauma to the head can lead to psychotic symptoms