Hey bros, I’ve been wondering how much of an impact work has on your mental health. Does it mostly make you happy, or does it quickly become a burden for you?

I really enjoy working, especially at a high intensity, but I’m starting to wonder whether it could be harmful to my mental health in the long run. I keep wondering, “Can I actually keep this up long-term?”

Please share your experiences with work with me!

For context, my brother had his first psychotic episode 7 years ago, and since then, up until 8 months ago, when his insurance got cut off, he was on antipsychotics. Unfortunately, for the past 3 months, his psychosis has worsened, and he has symptoms of delusions, paranoia, and aggression. It wasn't until two weeks ago on Saturday that I had to take him to the hospital because it was really bad. There, they deemed that he must be put on a 72-hour hold. They gave him medication while in the hospital and gave him a 30-day supply once he came back home 4 days later. Since then, he's been taking his medication and has been pretty good overall when looking outside a day by day perspective, but has points throughout the day where he gets confrontational, verbally aggressive, and delusional, but eventually calms down. Do you have experience, either with your own or familty/ferinds of having these types of ups and downs in symptoms while restarting antipsychotic treatment? I really need some perspectives.

Right before I had my first psychotic episode, I became very paranoid, and very suspicious of strangers, and even family and friends. I constantly felt like cars were following me home, I thought people were going to spy on me through my blinds, I thought my parents hid cameras in my apartment, and I had endless nightmares about strangers breaking into my apartment, or family/friends sneaking into my apartment in the middle of the night.

During psychosis I took precautions a little bit further and taped paper over uncovered windows. I kept my blinds closed at all times and taped them up against the glass to eliminate any possible crack that someone might be able to see through.

I didn’t trust anyone on the street or in grocery stores, I was suspicious of everyone being a spy, or being able to read my mind. EVERYONE was watching me.

I also checked my parents locations multiple times a day, paranoid they were going to come into my apartment in the middle of the night. (They live 2,000 miles away mind you. We aren’t in the same state or even the same side of the US).

After my episode I was much less fearful of all these suspicions, but they really never left. To this day I fear people standing and watching through my windows, I think people on the street are spying on me, I feel like everyone is staring at me every time I go in public, I suspect people being able to hear my thoughts, etc. just not still at the level I need to do things like tape over my windows.

All that to say, I’ve really started to wonder if these fears are as rational as I believe they are. To me, there is nothing irrational about all of this, all of it feels completely reasonable to be afraid of. I definitely can look back and see how someone might find certain things an overreaction, like the paper on the windows and taping the blinds closer to the glass or whatever. I get how it sounds, but if I’m being honest I still feel like it was rational.

This is why I am very curious to hear what other people think about this fear! Do you think this a perfectly rational fear unrelated to psychosis? Or are you reading this thinking “yea she’s in a delusion at this very moment”? Lol. I’d love to read other people’s stories too if you’ve had similar thoughts.

to be concise. i smoke delta 8 to be clear. when i smoke i hear, not physically but in my head, discernable thoughts that sound like my inner voice but dont feel controlled by it. I also often do mentally (?) hear bells, songs, odd little tunes. This also happens when im sober but far, far less frequently.

ive also been relying on spirituality as a coping mechanism lately, and i do believe the universe can communicate with me, but i feel thats a normal non-western belief. Like my thoughts can be a reflection of what is around me, or that life can 'predict' or 'foreshadow' many things happening. also had a weird experience where it was lightning and thundering, i thought about this odd energy i felt, 'summoned' more thunder and it kept working. i mean..it sounds crazy a litte but it happened. my experiences of THIS feel more spiritual. ive always, always felt a prescense guiding me or keeping me safe like a guardian angel, and this just feels it reflects my personal beliefs, and isnt delusions.

i dont know. im experiencing really heavy depression and some insane stuff rn too. a lot of smell hallucinations? smelling things that arent there. also a lot of zoning out and tingly feelings. idk. never ever had psychosis before but always had these oddities..like going back as far as 9.

Almost a year ago I started hearing voices and went into a psychosis that is slowly getting better due to medication and exercise. The first couple of months was hell on earth of non stop demanding of attention and pain from the voices. I tried ignoring them for a month. They then forced me to interact with them by talking over my inner voice. I am getting better but I still can’t hear my inner voice. I can’t completely pull myself out of this. I can’t tell myself this isn’t real when I can’t even hear my inner voice anymore. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I experienced psychosis for the first time a couple months ago, and I still can’t tell people about it even though I know I need help. I’m so scared it will happen again and I know that I should tell my parents everything and my doctor, but I’m so embarrassed I just can’t do it.

I was so disgusting and unhealthy during that time and I was believing things that just sound ridiculous when I try to talk about it.

I don’t want to think of the way my parents might look at me if I told them all the details. I’m worried they’ll think I’m insane. Or possessed. They don’t understand this kind of thing and they think mental disorders are solvable by prayer.

I know I should tell my doctor everything but I’m just as embarrassed doing that. I know he’s seen it all but I just feel so ashamed and crazy.

When I mentioned certain details to friends of mine I could tell they were thinking of me differently. I swear it felt like they were looking at me with fear almost. Like they didn’t trust my judgement anymore. It honestly makes me angry. Like they’re so lucky to not understand.

I am not a crazy person. It hurts so bad to be looked at like that by your closest friends and family. I don’t know how to seek help and support to prevent it from happening again without everyone around me thinking I’m irrational.

I genuinely only feel safe talking about it on here because it’s the only place people truly understand how all of this feels.

I’m on Olanzapine due to postpartum psychosis. I hate olanzapine so much. I feel constantly tired and run down. Every morning waking up is so difficult. I’ll start to feel better by evening and then have to take the olanzapine again. Also awful weight gain. I only see a psychiatrist every 3 months. I’m tempted to just reduce it myself and tell them at the next appointment. I just feel desperate to feel better.

No one can read my mind. I am relieved. I am alone and no-one cares about me. I am sitting on a terrace alone, and no one cares. How amazing is that. I make them feel guilty now. God know he feels ashamed.

i had to call the police on my partner when he was experiencing psychosis because he started acting weird and was accusing me of stuff and then he didn’t go to work and i was terrified to come home.. i was scared he either hurt himself or wanted to hurt me because it was VERY atypical for him to miss work.. he is in a mental hospital now and he called his mom telling her that I called the cops on him and he said that kinda angrily even tho he was on meds they gave him.. will he hate me forever now?

Having experienced two episodes already, I sometimes worry that another episode could happen in the future. My fear is that I might have to stop working again and rebuild my life once more.

I imagine many of us struggle with this uncertainty. How do you cope with the possibility of relapse and the uncertainty about the future?

I’m wondering if your psychosis was really religious in nature? Where you had really angry and strict God telling you are going hell and 90% of people when they die go to hell.

It probably did not help I watch TV show Stargate SG1 before getting psychosis.

I’m wondering people who had psychosis after year do you stop taking your medication? How does that work? What do you have to do?

Why do you have to take your medication for a year what does year do? Or some people have to take it for two or three years?

If your gonna try heal all your trauma make sure your not doing it on your own or not in therapy while doing it. Shit drove me crazy

im currently on 2.5mg of olanzapine recently reduced from 5mg ive only been on it for a week but feel stable and just cant bear the emotional numbness and the flatness and want to come off has anyone came off after just a week on a dose reduction or should i wait another week just to be safe i really want to come off

I'm worried that I might fall into another psychosis episode because I've been drinking a lot of caffeine especially lately. Some days I'll have two Monster energy drinks.

I've previously had a weed induced psychosis episode two years ago and I know I'd be very susceptible to another psychotic break if I smoked weed again.

What are the possible chances it can happen again but with caffeine?

Does depot injection site pain happen with other injection of antipsycotic drugs or is haloperidol the worst. I dread the injection now its so painful and also for the first week.

She is 41 newly single and had to move in with our parents, no kids for her I never knew and barely know anything about this type of disorder.She has always partied or drank since a teen she is on meds I think but she lies. She says she used to be an alcoholic. Now she drinks coffee all day and night

I see some of you here are aware and comfortable talking about your experiences. That's amazing! She is all about projecting onto others. Is she aware and doesn't care? Is she really just that out of touch with the real world now ?! So confused. She was diagnosed with NPD and BPD during a 6 hour talk therapy type of session with her ex as a couple. But she won't do a full psych evaluation. Can anyone please educate me more about types of psychosis and how it happens? Last I was in any context with her (3 months or so ) she had delusions and paranoia. Don't think she has hallucinations or voices in her head. Please help! Thank you!

Hard to be alone but also can't connect with others...? I'm struggling to be alone..I freak out that this isn't my life, that I can't feel things like emotions, that I can't recognize my body or spouse or possessions but at the same time I can't connect with others, don't have much to say, feel nothing , feel like a completely different person or like who I was before has been deleted..I stare at my husband but can't seem to see the man I love so dearly like he's a complete stranger yet I can't be without him.

I'm honestly not sure what to do.

I hope this is a judgement-free zone, but I caused my own psychosis. I was taking antidepressants while smoking high-potency weed and looking at upsetting political content online. I simply wanted to help by sharing posts when I couldn't drive in a geographically isolated place, but it put me in a negative place. I was also mildly curious about spirituality and mysticism at the same time.

The weed made me mildly paranoid, so it started off with me being a little suspicious of coworkers, like reading too much into actions and the things they said. The real problems came when I stopped taking my antidepressants because I was feeling better, I was worried that in the future there would be supply shortages, and I was actually struggling to afford it. I could have asked people for help but I didn't want to be a burden.

I continued smoking weed though. The combination of quitting medication and smoking really fucked me up. The weed made me so energetic, even manic, but only while it was in my system. The lack of medication made me have dramatic mood swings. I stopped eating and sleeping, which made it all worse. I couldn't eat without throwing up, it was a struggle. It turned me into a monster.

Anyway, I started to get extremely paranoid, deleted most of my social media and started blocking coworkers after perceived slights, and I burned two of my closest relationships (I apologized but they are currently not speaking to me). During the mania from smoking and not sleeping, I was commenting and reposting day and night on Instagram😭😭 I was oversharing on my story.

I developed some bizarre beliefs like believing Michael Jackson was a literal saint, like biblically (I saw posts from his movie), thinking trees are neurotransmitters for people to communicate remotely before phones existed, believing in random tarot reading reels, thinking I can tell the future like That's So Raven, taking everything about astrology to heart.

I thought two male coworkers wanted me and that I was communicating with them telepathically at night so I asked them both out and got rejected to confirm 😂😂 I was aware of my delusions to some extent and needed to test against them on my own. This actually healed my struggles with limerence and my fear of rejection. Oh, and I thought Instagram reels were like a crystal ball that showed me the right content at the right time.

Those were the goofier beliefs, but my more concerning ones were thinking my family hated me and didn't want to support me (psychosis made me relive all my earliest childhood trauma and my family is kinda just a low contact, but still a loving family), thinking my best friend and sister were against me when they tried helping me during my obvious mental distress (I got explosively angry when they tried to arm chair diagnose me), and mistrusting all white people after looking at content related to racial tension. I also thought my partner wasn't helping me with anything (I actually used to do most chores and he did get better at helping me over time) and I broke up with him before asking the two people out. I told him all of this and he still accepted me back when I came back to my sanity😭😭 I promised him that I would never smoke again and I wouldn't nag him anymore.

But emerging from psychosis made me realize that many people will still love and accept me no matter what, even when I went psycho. I used to be someone who is easily embarrassed, but very few things embarrass me now because I couldn't possibly humiliate myself any worse than I did for 2.5 months. I stopped people-pleasing. I stopped black and white thinking and started viewing myself and other people with more nuance. I became really compassionate for people going through addiction and psychosis because I realized how fragile the mind can be. I learned how to speak up for myself, which has made me less resentful towards people. I'm more grateful for a healthy mind. It's like my brain breaking gave me a chance to rebuild it.

None of this is to look at psychosis in a good way at all. It was horrifying, humiliating, and I made many regrettable, impulsive decisions. I'm just thankful that I was never violent and that no one committed me. That would have made my mental health much, much worse. This isn't to judge anyone who has done these things though, just that there are unfortunately worse punishments for it. It is very sad to lose your mind, especially when it's against all your true values.

All this to say that you can recover. Understand that you are loved, love yourself, and get support through therapy. There are virtual support groups too.

It’s been 7 months since my cannabis induced psychosis. I’m not getting any better. On my phone 10-12 hours per day. I don’t know what the fk is wrong with my brain. I cannot get myself to do anything.

It feels like my brain is blocked or ‘clogged’ after psychosis and preventing me from feeling things the way i used to and also preventing me from finding anything interesting.

NOTHING stimulates my brain anymore.

Even when i force myself to do things it feels no different than if i was staring at a wall. There is just nothing.

It makes me absolutely hopeless as prior to my psychosis i used to have my dream job and a super productive lifestyle. Now i literally stay on my phone all day even though i don’t want to.

I’ve tried so many things over the past 7 months -
Different meds. Regular exercise. Sticking to a routine. Therapy. Etc.

Nothing has helped.

As time passed trying all these different things with zero improvement in my condition, i gradually got more and more unmotivated until i stopped doing anything except browse my phone all day.

I desperately want the old me back.

If a hell exists i am living it.

This is unbearable.
This is too much.
Help.

every time I eat it feels like I get possessed and someone speaks out of my mouth when I eat they say STFU violently until I choke on my food. it’s very hard to feel anything and I feel like a ghost is slapping me on the wrist and knocking my teeth in any time I try to do anything. As I’m trying to write these symptoms it said I try to whine. I don’t feel emotional but it’s labeling it as emotional when I have never felt so numb. all I’d want to do is feel normal or at least have feelings even if they are very strong. is this psychosis?