About Psychosis: Guest Speaker.

Part 1

A touch of madness can embellish pain just as surely as it can cover it.

Madness is interesting as it often seems more like self imposed deception than an affliction to anyone who can recognize their own. What's awful about madness is its potential to twist priorities from what should be focused unto the essence of madness itself, typically a lie that festers in a wound and spreads like a virus.

Unfortunately, similar to the nature of most infections, it remains more or less a biological reaction to the initial wound itself often naturally and innocently enough occurring out of fear for reality, a sort of distrust or, probably more accurately, disdain for the truth.

This form of self imposed psychosis acts as a barrier between whatever intrinsic traits an individual holds precious about their character and any opposition to it by means of self destruction.

It's more or less burning your own bridges so none may cross them, the problem being our brains are actually capable of destroying synapses in this perverse form of self defense, it is NOT merely a simple act of escapism.

In theory, repairing such broken bonds of one's own mind simply requires personal effort over time and the adequate nutrients to do so, however in practice it often becomes a much tricker task as the individual is still bound in their augmented reality.

People with psychosis will typically not be able to heal if they are not in environments where they feel completely safe to do so, the catch being the longer one lives in psychosis, the more opportunities they have to distrust reality again and thus cause more damage to themselves, perpetually making it harder for them to heal.

Part 2

Someone with psychosis will often find themselves stressed as if they were in danger even when safe and in loving environments.

Unfortunately others will often perceive their stress as a sign of trouble being afoot and will unconsciously support the perception of a real threat of danger by responding with distance, tight and impersonal conversation, nervous body language, abandonment, and even anger,

all of which will only drive a mad man/lady even deeper down the rabbit hole.

Until common knowledge encompasses such an understanding, as a crazy person there are very few options to turn your relentlessly expanding nightmare back down the road of sanity.

Here's some of what I've got so far:

1. Do not isolate yourself if you are naturally prone to paranoia.

Most people who have experienced any level of trauma have since lived under some level of fear.

A lot of people have come to recognize it as normal.

Having fear in my opinion is absolutely a sign of an injured psyche but many can be alone without delving into an internalized self harm and will often find retreat in solitude.

If you can sit alone in a room, calm yourself down, focus your thoughts, and find a bit of peace, Cool.

Do that.

As you take time to yourself make sure to stretch and gently massage tight muscles, especially ones on your neck and your spine.

The disks of your spine are living structures that require water and nutrients to survive.

After adolescence (let's say age 13) the blood supply that naturally catered to those needs atrophies (die) and the only way to keep spinal discs healthy is through movement.

Water and nutrients pump into the disc when pressure is taken off and waste is pumped out when pressure is placed on.

The spinal column's state greatly affects the body's sense of wellness and thus can make or break a person's potential for inner peace.

If you find you can't sit alone in your head without antagonizing yourself whether with personal attacks or feelings of paranoia towards social anxiety, financial circumstances, or the impending threat of death, work on your body first and solving mental crises will be easier.

Part 3

Solving your own breaks from reality is not an easy task but it is no way as daunting as it may seem.

Our bodies respond to their environments with health at the highest priority.

Psychosis will disrupt natural healing as our bodies process everything through the brain. A perceived reality, true or false, will be responded to as best as bodily possible.

The biggest difficulty to overcome will likely be recognizing where the dissonance lies as it's not "just" your brain perceiving an alternate reality, it's you.

Mania, paranoia, affinity towards self harm, and persisting nightmares all result from the brain constantly on edge as if in a fight or flight situation.

Maintain such a state too long and your brain will begin tearing itself apart, terrified about its circumstances only to observe its surroundings, find itself in no immediate danger, and come to the conclusion that the danger is from within.

If you are a more physical person these reactions are typically reflected in tensing up, shaking, and adrenaline rushes.

More mentally based people will stop breathing, experience intense head aches, and clench their jaws.

In more series cases reactions are a cluster of all of the symptoms as the brain desperately searches for an issue that just isn't there resulting in seizures and the like.

It is important to always remember to breathe.

The best method of breathing I have found to calm yourself down is spinal breathing. (Which if you would like to learn more about, look up pranayama)

The basic/most effective method is to sit up straight and draw in deep, slow breathes from the base of your abdomen up to your chest, though i find I can easily enough do this lying down if I don't feel like sitting up for a yoga session...which I basically never do.

Breathing properly takes a lot of effort if you've been doing it differently so don't get disheartened if you can't do it immediately, you'll get it soon enough in time.

Once you have gotten your breath regular and feel calm enough to actually control your thoughts, close your eyes if you feel comfortable, and begin giving yourself self affirmations.

I personally found it easiest to start with basic and obvious things I was pretty much incapable of denying such as "I will not run out of air to breathe, gravity is real and will hold me here safely, when I open my eyes I will be able to see real things" and then progressing to more positive thoughts like "I am okay, my heart won't give out, things will get better" onto grander thoughts and my more personal issues that needed to be addressed.

Don't worry if you don't know what to tell yourself at first, mostly you are going to want to ground yourself at first and then work upwards towards the parts of your perception that may have limited you.

Ultimately the first goal is to form trust with your own reality so that existential fears and dread do not hinder you from addressing whatever other issues you may have.

This will allow the brain to form synapses naturally as needed to maintain a healthy mindset and allow you to meditate and maybe even expand your consciousness if you feel inclined to do so.