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- Info
Treatment of Psychosis
Appropriate treatment of psychotic symptoms often involves education, medications and therapy. Outpatient visits to a psychiatrist and therapist are the usual setting for treatment, but sometimes hospitalization is needed if symptoms are severe and there is risk of the patient harming himself or herself or others.
Education of the patient and their families is very important. Learning about the course of the illness, the range of treatments, things to avoid (recreational drugs), and things to work on that will be helpful (stress management), will empower the patient and enable him or her to work with the clinical team to develop the best treatment plan.
Antipsychotic medication is the mainstay of treatment for people with psychotic illness. In the first few years of treatment the goal is remission of symptoms, and this may necessitate switching antipsychotics or adding other medications to target remaining symptoms (antianxiety or antidepressants).
Therapy is often valuable to the patient, aiding in accepting the idea of having an illness and needing to make changes to one’s life to accommodate this. Other areas for therapy often include learning and practicing stress management techniques, improving social skills, redefining appropriate short and long term goals.
Family therapy is also very helpful for many families. Having a child or spouse develop a psychotic illness often leaves a person feeling very alone, and unprepared to handle the new challenges that the illness brings. Mulitfamily therapy brings family members together to share their experiences, challenges and strengths and can be very empowering. Individual family therapy can help a family to work together better for the benefit of all. |
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