23 year old son with psychosis

[Max44]

My 23 year old son has recently been diagnosed with psychosis. No previous mental health issues. He is receiving help. This has absolutely rocked my world. I could really do with some positives from anyone who has been through this and come out the other side in a positive way … please

I'm glad he is receiving help, it must be terrifying for him. Could you get any therapy or support to process your feelings? It might help him also. I would say allow time and space for healing. Take care.

I have bipolar disorder with psychosis, I was diagnosed with this when I was 19, the diagnosis was hard on my Mother. I’ve done things, acted in ways and spoken about things during a psychotic episode I wish I could take back. I find it hard to relate to the way I act when I have a psychotic episode.. because it’s not the way I truly feel. The most important thing for me was accepting I needed help and also going on medication (antipsychotics) and went to behavioral therapy. There are no short fixes and it will take a lot of work before things are ‘right’ but things will get better. I’ve been on medication for almost 7 years now, I still hit the odd bump in road mentally but nothing as bad as what it was before. It’s also worth mentioning I had to try a lot of different medication recommended by the doctor before I found the one that was right for me, but when the medication was right, my life got better. I felt like myself again.
Is he under the care of your local primary or community mental health team? Have they been helpful and supportive?

I suffered from psychosis in august this year and am on an antipsychotic and anti depressant. I was told that I'll need to be on the antipsychotic for at least a year. I was an informal patient in hospital and the first medication that they put me on, worked as I've had no further episodes. I hope he gets a medication that works, he needs to work with the Drs. Also ask as a pp mentioned, The Early Intervention Team ask his psychiatrist about it, they should know what is available in the area.

A family member had a bad time with a psychosis but wasn't a danger to himself or other people. There were blips along the way but he takes medication and leads a normal life. He works full time and he has his own home. I think it's possible to overcome this but everybody's recovery is different.

Just wanted to add my support. My daughter is a little younger but developed psychosis 18 months ago, completely out of the blue, no history of mental health issues or drug use. It is not easy and a complicated illness to treat due to the patient not having insight into their condition, being paranoid, not wanting to trust health staff or follow the prescribed treatment. What makes a difference is support from family, I don't know what patients without that do. Your son and yourself should be supported by the mental health services and there should be a specialist team to support him for 3 years.It is trial and error to find a medication that works for the individual patient, plus they need to find the correct dose. From what I understand, some patients bounce back quite quickly and respond to medication, for others it is a slower process. You have to learn to live with the uncertainty of if they will recover and if they can sustain recovery in future life. You end up having to try to live with that worry and sadness, but you should be offered a referral to wellbeing services yourself. You should also have a Carer's assessment to see what support you need.
18 months on, my daughter is on her third type of medication and this has had some effect, but for a long time she would not increase the dose due to voices telling her not to trust doctors, she now is on a slightly higher dose and I hope it will be increased further soon. It is helping which is good.She is not in anyway difficult and is trying to cope in her own way. We are fortunate she has not had any symptoms that can go with psychosis like anger, violence or suicidal ideas. I am really astounded about how she functions still living with these symptoms, the symptoms are much improved but I hope they will go altogether, but perhaps I should adjust my expectations and hope she is better able to manage living with the illness
Be prepared for a long journey, you need a lot of patience and understanding. Make sure you get support and have time to have a break. I am hoping the future will be positive for us and it is good to hear that previous posters have been able to manage their illness and enjoy life

@Caughtup - I am sorry to hear your daughter is having a bad time. However you are misinformed when you say that violence could be a symptom of psychosis. Most people with a mental illness are more of a danger to themselves than to other people. It's like saying violence could be a symptom of depression. It's a sweeping statement.

People are finally beginning to open up about schizophrenia and psychosis which are often misconstrued and linked to violence. Please don't perpetuate the stigma.

aftertherainagain, thanks for your feedback and I am not intending to perpetuate any stigma. Unfortunately only in the last 24 hours, I have had to justify to a well known mental health charity, that my daughter is not a risk or violent to herself or others in order for her to be accepted on one of their programmes.That is where my thought had come from as I was concerned they thought she could be, so assumed they had more knowledge than me. Maybe anger would have been a better term to use, but I had to reassure this charity my daughter was not violent, so it was not me perpetuating a stigma, it was the charity telling me that they could not accept anyone on the course if there was a risk they could be violent to others.

@Caughtup - I hope the charity wasn't Mind.

I hope your daughter recovers quickly. It's different for everyone but I found that getting back into work or volunteer work helped me.

I had a psychotic break over a year ago. I wasn't on anti psychotics as it was caused by anxiety but it took two weeks doped up on oxazepam (those were the days...) for it to settle down a bit. Psychosis itself is very hard but once it stops / is under control, there is a very long and bumpy road to recovery, with a lot of setbacks. I returned to work after few months but it took me a good year to feel like "myself" again. I didn't have any real life support from family or friends but I was in therapy (CBT / schema therapy). Today the whole episode is a very distant memory. Good luck and look for support for yourself too!

Thank you all for the messages. He is getting help from the Early Intervention Team but his behaviour is very up and down. It’s all so wearing and, at the moment, I’m struggling to be optimistic or to see a happy future.