Posted by undopaminergic on February 19, 2020, at 13:42:58
In reply to Re: Aloradine (again), posted by Lamdage22 on February 19, 2020, at 11:22:15
> I am trying to. I finished a course of CBT-like therapy in October 2019. All the psychologists I have met said I should finish CBT first and see how I am doing after. I will call somebody tomorrow! There is an association for psychodynamic/analytic therapy for people prone to psychosis in my hometown. It would be best if I connect with somebody from that association to avoid becoming psychotic through the therapy. I think things need to be done a bit differently in people susceptible to psychosis.
>
> Interesting. Can you tell me more about your experience?
>I'm not in a good shape to tell that story, due to apathy. Speaking of which, apathy is a serious problem for any kind of talk therapy, because the client has so little to say. Worse, in the context of analytic therapy, the apathetic analysand will have very few associations, making the technique of free association impossible.
While I do consider myself primarily oriented to the psychoanalytic school, I used the term "psychodynamic" as a counterpart to "pharmacodynamic".
But anyway, I can mention a few things I believe to be important.
I've been psychotic myself. It resembled paranoid schizophrenia, because I had the paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations. However, in my mind, I have actually benefitted from that psychosis. It's not only that the experience has made me richer, but it has triggered psychological progress that has made me a whole other person, in comparison with before the psychosis.
I don't know the details of your psychoses, so I don't know what would be most relevant for you.
A practical tip for paranoid delusions, if you have that(?) is to gather facts, such as actually climb a ladder up to your loft and test your belief that there are people up there watching and manipulating you. I did this, and I could immediately and dismiss a number of extensive paranoid ideas.
If you think people can read your mind, you can put that belief to test, too, by thinking repeatedly about something, and see if you get any feedback at all from your surroundings to confirm or refute your belief. The more you do this, more more you can reassure yourself that your fears are unwarranted. I did this, and it's been one of the most effective "therapies" I've had, as least as far as psychosis is concerned.
Another trick is to come to terms with the scenario that your fears are true. Learn to live in the spotlight. Even if there are hidden cameras following your every move, that does not mean you have to stop living. Keep doing what you would do if no-one were watching. You will see that nothing bad happens, and you can further reassure and calm yourself, until, with time, you find yourself thinking less and less about it.
As for medications, I suggest you titrate the dose of antipsychotics to a level where you are on the borderline of psychosis. This is to allow natural psychological healing processes to work. If you medicate away the psychosis too completely, there is no opportunity for your mind to adapt, heal, and evolve. However, do not set the dose too low, as the symptoms can become too severe for the mind to learn to cope.
I find now that I'm immune to suffering the kind of psychotic breakdown I had, regardless of how little I sleep or how much stimulants I take. I have isolated delusions at times, but most of them help me more to feel better than the opposite. Indeed, I deliberately encourage "positive thinking"-kind of delusions, eg. "everything is possible" and "I have all the time in the world", "death is not the end, but is a new beginning".
I find that most of the delusions form at a time I am manic or otherwise feeling good. It takes time for the delusions to dissipate even after the mania is over, so mood stabilisation is perhaps the most important treatment modality for psychosis if you are bipolar.
Some of these approaches can be adapted to target social anxiety/phobia. Ask yourself: what is the worst adverse scenario you can imagine to result from a public speech? So what if all the audience are laughing at you? Indeed, you can take the laughter as proof that your speech was entertaining to your listeners. It's not going to happen, unless you say or do something very funny, like you're stand-up comedian.
-undopaminergic
poster:undopaminergic
thread:1108538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20200104/msgs/1108566.html