Psychotic break

[idiot_stimpy]

What does it mean to have a psychotic break?

 

What is actually being broken and what is flowing through the break?

 

 

I'm interested in what causes this as this happened to a good friend of mine.

[GreytoWhite]

It happened to me a few years ago. Basically what is broken is the perception of consensus reality as others see it. What is flowing through the break is the paracosm that the person has created in their head, however it may have come. Often someone in this state is EXTREMELY intuitive and you may want to pay attention to what they say but save it for later.

 

As to what causes it, there are many causes. Usually extreme stress in one way or another is responsible from my experience. In my case I was experiencing major energetic shifts from practice and my chiropractor helping with my spine, I was about to be laid off, I was living with my mother who is alcoholic and bipolar, I was obsessed with certain things I could not learn through reading and was unable to differentiate some things about it and I was also extremely lonely, then BLAM! psychedelic experience triggered a psychotic break.

[Aetherous]

In my experience, I became "hypervigilant"...basically my mind would pick up on tons of unimportant things in the immediate surroundings, it's like you're super-aware, and then it would automatically assume that it was all meaningful and in relation to me. Which is frightening. It's an attempt to create a story out of purely random experience...connecting the dots when there isn't actually a connection.

Say for instance, you're walking through a store and you hear some stranger talking to their friend about some subject that you know about. Like spirituality for instance. You might jump to the conclusion that they're talking about you or spying on you. Then you hear the background music, and the lyrics somehow relate to your situation. Or they bring to mind one of your more recent experiences, and you think it could be messages about how to handle something in your life. Then you see some product on the shelf that has the name of someone you know, and somehow these three things relate and you decide that the universe is telling you "You must get this box of tampons to fix your life situation"....even though you're a guy! lol

Spiritual people also call this "synchronicity"...but I get confused when they refer to it as a good thing, because in my experience it was more nightmarish than anything. I was scared to really do anything for a few weeks straight because of the intensity of the experience.

This might have all been caused by simply a disturbed nervous system (in my case from combining too many powerful practices incorrectly)...if you get tons of good sleep and chill out emotionally, I think as time goes by you go back to normal.

In my view these days, it's all just the mind. You can recognize it all as nonsense, and stop paying attention...get rest and stop feeling the need to pay so much attention to your surroundings, and stop believing in things...then things go back to normal.

 

I basically had to figure out that I was thinking delusionally (not an easy thing to admit to yourself when you believe in it), and retrain my brain to stop believing in nonsense. Just be totally mundane and normal. This wasn't an easy task, but is possible. It helps to be clear on what you enjoy in life and what kind of life you want to be living...that can help motivate you to chill out.

It's especially challenging in the modern world to experience this kind of thing, where much of what we see is actually an attempt to get inside of your head and make you do things. Advertising for instance. Look over here, buy this, think that. Everyone is attempting to control everyone else, and basically...walk into your local Wal Mart and you're exposed to a cacophony of chaotic bullshit. More so than what normal people see. From the people to the products to the basic way the store is designed. It all sucks and is disturbing. Even a smile can be seen as menacing. You might also see some ulterior motives of the closest people to you, your own family members, best friends, or spouse, etc...it's hard to deal with this! Better to not experience this kind of thing. Ignorance is bliss...and there is nothing wrong with bliss or ignorance when it comes to psychosis.

It helps to have somewhat of a zen like lifestyle. Avoid places that are disturbing. I would focus on simple things, like drinking a cup of tea...watching a dumb comedy show. People will find their way out of hell if they want to. You have to really want to...otherwise you could be walking around for years talking absolute nonsense and believing in it.

Just my experience...there are different kinds of crazy, apparently.

[Jetsun]

I think its the flooding of the conscious mind with repressed thoughts, feelings and impulses from the subconscious. What I think is being broken is your sense of "I" in the sense that you are being overwhelmed with material you don't consider as an acceptable part of yourself, so there is a big war or internal conflict with what is coming up.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

Ain't the mind wonderful.

 

I read R D Laing when I was about 16.

 

The book had found its way into my mother's hands when she was studying psychology as one of her advanced nursing courses.

 

ps don't mention cuckoos.

...

Edited February 27, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell

[idiot_stimpy]

I think its the flooding of the conscious mind with repressed thoughts, feelings and impulses from the subconscious. What I think is being broken is your sense of "I" in the sense that you are being overwhelmed with material you don't consider as an acceptable part of yourself, so there is a big war or internal conflict with what is coming up.

 

Repressed really stood out

[C T]

I think its the flooding of the conscious mind with repressed thoughts, feelings and impulses from the subconscious. What I think is being broken is your sense of "I" in the sense that you are being overwhelmed with material you don't consider as an acceptable part of yourself, so there is a big war or internal conflict with what is coming up.

What's a good remedial program for such an affliction, in your opinion?

[Jetsun]

What's a good remedial program for such an affliction, in your opinion?

I think the way a decent psycotherapist would try go about it would be to create a more compassionate container for what was emerging, in the sense of meeting it with a more allowing open hearted way which will contrast the struggling non allowance of the person it is happening to. If there is a decent rapport and trust that alone could be enough to facilitate integration of what is coming up. Other things which could help is to challenge the thinking and conclusions made at earlier more helpless stages of development. The basic aim is to restructure the perspective of the persons identity into a healthier perspective towards what is occurring to reduce the conflict towards it.

 

The other way could be to question the sense of "I" altogether, which might be difficult because the person is likely to be very contracted and clinging to whatever sense of I they have left so to propse that they let that go which might open up even more suffering is not likely to be something they can choose to do, but it is something which sometimes happens when a person comes to a complete dead end and give up all struggle (without commiting suicide). Like in the case of Byron Katie who was basically floored by psychological turmoil to the extent that she gave up, and in that she awakened to what she really was. I doubt a therapist can facilitate that process though unless they are "awake" themselves so their own consciousness can entrain the process non verbally, otherwise its like they are trying to get them to take steps into places they haven't been themselves, which isn't likely to engender any trust.

[C T]

I think the way a decent psycotherapist would try go about it would be to create a more compassionate container for what was emerging, in the sense of meeting it with a more allowing open hearted way which will contrast the struggling non allowance of the person it is happening to. If there is a decent rapport and trust that alone could be enough to facilitate integration of what is coming up. Other things which could help is to challenge the thinking and conclusions made at earlier more helpless stages of development. The basic aim is to restructure the perspective of the persons identity into a healthier perspective towards what is occurring to reduce the conflict towards it.

 

The other way could be to question the sense of "I" altogether, which might be difficult because the person is likely to be very contracted and clinging to whatever sense of I they have left so to propse that they let that go which might open up even more suffering is not likely to be something they can choose to do, but it is something which sometimes happens when a person comes to a complete dead end and give up all struggle (without commiting suicide). Like in the case of Byron Katie who was basically floored by psychological turmoil to the extent that she gave up, and in that she awakened to what she really was. I doubt a therapist can facilitate that process though unless they are "awake" themselves so their own consciousness can entrain the process non verbally, otherwise its like they are trying to get them to take steps into places they haven't been themselves, which isn't likely to engender any trust.

Excellent. Much appreciated.

[gatito]

@ idiot_stimpy

 

Perhaps you should ask your friend?

Edited July 10, 2015 by gatito

[Uroboros]

I had something along the lines of a "psychotic break" for about 8 years.

 

Linear time, with a stable point fractured. Reality would change, places people things, then pop back. I would do things, such as talk to people, then later on they would tell me it had not happened.

 

I saw things others did not, people animals, etc. Memories of things, fuzzy and dark, beasts and nightmares wandering in and out of the cracks.

 

The world around me was chaos, ever changing, shifting realities, combinations. Even my mind, memories would shift and change. Only "I" was solid..even then, "I" could not be sure what"I" was and if "I" was changing.

 

Nothing was "real", nothing solid. Nothing could be relied upon to be there the next moment.

 

I felt the emotions of every person that was near me, I felt their physical pain and took some of it on randomly, I felt the grass and leaves dying and growing. All this was intensely painful and I tried to kill my self a few times to end it.

 

Eventually...I got stronger. I was able to come out of the intense pain without killing my self and over years I was able to handle it better...Then, one year I reached a point where I was more stable. Where the pieces fit a bit better, the cracks a bit smaller..

 

I still have these experiences. They are infrequent and mild when they do happen. There are periods where it happens allot, 5 times in a day or so. I do not yet know why.

 

It is very hard to exist in the here and now. I am half here and half not.

 

That is all I know from my experiences. I hope you can help your friend. I was able to get through it because I had some people who provided support/ love/ something to look forward to.

 

Peace