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Self-care if you experience psychosis
If you're having experiences of psychosis, there are things you can do to help yourself cope. You may choose to try them on their own, or alongside treatment.
These tips may not always help. If you've tried something and it hasn't helped, try not to blame yourself.
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I think a routine of structure, quiet and an unpressurised environment, combined with medication, was ultimately the key to my recovery.
Helping yourself during a psychotic experience
If you're in an episode of psychosis, we have some ideas that people find helpful.
Sometimes it can be difficult to know if you're experiencing psychosis. This is because the experiences can feel very real to you. But if you experience psychosis regularly, you might be able to recognise the signs over time.
Try to focus on the present moment
Focus on what you can smell, see, hear, touch or taste right now. Our pages on mindfulness have more information.
Try to respond to your voices in different ways
Changing how you communicate with your voices might help you feel like you have more control over them. And it can help you to build a more positive relationship with them.
Our information about hearing voices has more tips on how to do this.
Distract yourself
Some people find distractions helpful when experiencing psychosis. This could include watching TV, listening to music, or going to sleep.
Distractions could involve a hobby such as a physical activity, gardening or drawing. You could try drawing or writing about what you're hearing, thinking or experiencing right now.
Some distractions might interfere with your delusions or hallucinations. Try different things to see what works for you.
I painted regularly - something I hadn't done for years but felt inspired to do.
Talk to someone
If you're with someone when you think you might be experiencing psychosis, talk to them. Try to tell them what's going on for you right now and what things feel like. This can feel really scary. But try to be as open and honest as possible.
Try peer support
Peer support brings together people who've had similar experiences to support each other. You can access peer support online or try a support group in your local area.
You can find peer support groups for psychosis through:
You can also contact your local Mind to help you find peer support near you. See our pages on peer support groups for more information.
If you don't feel ready to try peer support but need to talk to someone, you could call a helpline. Many national and local organisations run helplines that you can call in a crisis, such as Samaritans.
Talking to a trained listener could give you some support and help you make sense of what you're feeling and what's happening. Visit our page on mental health helplines to find numbers you could call.
Recognise your triggers
It may help to keep a diary of things that might have triggered a psychotic experience. You could record:
- What happens just before a psychotic experience
- What happens during an experience
- When you have them
- How you feel about them
- How well you're sleeping
- Your lifestyle, such as your sleep and diet
You could write this in a notebook, or use an app or online tool. Our page on finding reliable health information online has tips to help you find online apps and tools that are safe and effective.
Keeping a diary can help you:
- Understand what triggers psychosis or makes it worse
- Think about what has helped you manage psychosis in the past
- Recognise the signs that tell you when you’re becoming unwell
Understanding what your triggers are could help you find ways to prevent them. Or think of ways to cope if they happen again.
Family and friends may also be able to help you spot when you're becoming unwell. This includes noticing early symptoms before you experience psychosis.
There were other coping mechanisms that I learnt. For example, talking about what is on my mind instead of keeping it in and avoiding sleeping late as it was one of the triggers of my psychosis
Look after your physical health
Looking after your physical health can make a difference to your mental health.
You may receive yearly physical health check-ups as part of your care. This is because experiencing psychosis is recognised by the NHS as a serious mental illness. Having a serious mental illness can make you more likely to develop physical health problems.
It can help to:
- Try to get enough sleep. People that experience psychosis can have difficulties with sleep. And poor sleep can trigger psychotic experiences or make existing symptoms worse. If you're struggling to sleep, our pages on coping with sleep problems have some tips that might help.
- Try to eat regularly. This can help avoid psychosis being triggered by changes to your blood sugar levels. Our page on food and mental health has more information about how what you eat can affect how you feel.
- Try to do some physical activity. Being active can be helpful for your mental wellbeing. You may be offered support to help you get more active. See our pages on physical activity and mental health.
- Avoid drugs and alcohol. You might want to use drugs or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings. But in the long run, they can make you feel a lot worse. They can also prevent you from dealing with any underlying problems that the drug or alcohol use may have been masking. Alcohol and drugs can also affect how well medication works. See our pages on recreational drugs and alcohol.
- Give up smoking. If you're getting treatment for psychosis, you may be offered support to stop smoking. Smoking can change the effects of antipsychotic drugs. If you smoke and are prescribed antipsychotics, it's particularly recommended that you try to give up smoking. It's best to talk to a doctor first because they can help you give up smoking. And they might need to adjust your prescription.
Create a crisis plan
If you're feeling unwell you might not be able to tell people what help you want, so it can help to plan ahead.
You could talk to someone you trust about how you'd like to be helped if you're in a crisis. You could also write this down with them. That way you can both remember what was said. And they can feel more confident in supporting you.
Visit our page on planning for a crisis for more information.
There’s one particular family member I really trust, and what I do is, I call him, and say I’m having such a good time, but if I’m going out of control, and I don’t call for help, will you call for help for me?
Published: January 2025
Next review planned: January 2028
References and bibliography available on request.
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