All posts tagged: Psychosis

A Story of Postpartum Psychosis

A Story of Postpartum Psychosis

Published by Jenni Sidey

Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) is a life-threatening mental health issue that affects a small percentage of mothers. Causing delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia, PPP is a mental health emergency that puts babies’ and mothers’ lives at risk. With proper treatment, including inpatient care, PPP can resolve within a few weeks. However, left untreated, PPP can persist for months, and tends to worsen in severity over time. While PPP is rare, many women struggle with their mental health in the postpartum period, with shifting hormones, sleep deprivation, and the overwhelming responsibility of caring for tiny human taking a toll on their emotional wellbeing. Acclaimed novelist Jodi Picoult explores trauma and postpartum psychosis in her latest book, Hollow Bones, and offers readers a narrative look at a mother’s experience of PPP. HRA: Your latest novel, Hollow Bones, centers around the lasting trauma of characters whose lives were changed by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In what ways do you notice our society continuing to be impacted by the collective trauma of this event? Jodi Picoult: It’s the …

The Cost of Misdiagnosing Postpartum Psychosis

The Cost of Misdiagnosing Postpartum Psychosis

Published by Jenni Sidey

Postpartum psychosis is a serious mental health condition that can have devastating consequences if left untreated. Right now, this reality is being played out in a Massachusetts courtroom, where Lindsay Clancy stands trial for the deaths of her three children. Her case has reignited a difficult but important conversation about what can happen when the mental health system fails a mother in crisis. Unfortunately, Clancy is not the only mother failed by the system. Postpartum psychosis awareness advocate Aaisha Alvi, author of the memoir A Mom Like That, knows this all too well. She survived her own experience with postpartum psychosis after being dismissed by several providers. Both her and Clancy’s stories point to the same urgent gaps in perinatal mental health care. What Is Postpartum Psychosis? Postpartum psychosis is a serious psychiatric condition that occurs in an estimated one to two out of every 1,000 births. It typically develops rapidly, often within the first few weeks after birth, but it can occur later. It’s important to note that women who have experienced pregnancy loss …

Assimilating After Psychosis

Assimilating After Psychosis

Published by Jenni Sidey

My personal relationship with the word “crazy” has been intense. I thought nothing of the term and used it in jest until my psychotic breaks. But after my first break, I did not hear anyone say the word “crazy” in passing without thinking they were really talking about me. Anytime anyone I know said the word “crazy” in jest during and in early recovery from my illness, I would use that information to deduce this person would judge and reject me if they found out that I have been psychotic before. I am careful not to use this word lightly, because of how this word made me feel when I was recovering from psychological and emotional damage from my breaks. Nowadays, I don’t feel like people are really referring to me when they say that word. Even better though, I’ve lost the sense that I stand out as that person who had psychotic breaks and went to a psych ward multiple times, as if I’m the only person that has ever happened to. It simply …

Could You Recognize the First Signs of Psychosis?

Could You Recognize the First Signs of Psychosis?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Psychosis and schizophrenia are among the most common mental health concerns. Yet, these terms remain draped in misunderstanding, even among clinicians. As a therapist who has experienced psychosis herself, I often find myself seeking to correct misunderstandings. No, not all (or even most) extreme or difficult-to-understand behavior is considered “psychosis.” Yes, people can have a first episode of psychosis after their 20s, especially women (Díaz-Pons et al., 2022). In psychosis care, multiple diagnoses are often the norm, not the exception, with many individuals’ experiences falling outside the straightforward confines of DSM criteria. Watchful waiting is not always a good idea, even when we want to protect someone from the stigma of particular diagnostic labels. And yes, often, people do get better. Why All Therapists Need a Working Knowledge of Psychosis I recognize the lack of knowledge. Psychosis is one of thousands of difficulties that lead people to see mental health practitioners, and aspects of psychosis remain mysterious even to psychosis experts and researchers. Still, with early detection and intervention being documented as one of the …

Grimes Says She Has AI Psychosis

Grimes Says She Has AI Psychosis

Published by José Betancourt

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Coachella Claire “Grimes” Boucher says that you’re really missing out if you’re not experiencing a mental health crisis at the hands of an AI chatbot. Seriously. We’re not putting words in her mouth. On Monday, the pop musician and Elon Musk baby-mama had everyone wondering if she was suffering a case of so-called AI psychosis after she seemingly argued in favor of having — you guessed it — AI psychosis. “The thing about AI psychosis is that it’s more fun than not having AI psychosis,” she wrote in an after-hours tweet, seemingly apropos of nothing. Her hot take was met with immediate backlash. “AI psychosis has killed people, Grimes,” responded film concept artist Reid Southen. “It’s not ‘fun.’” It’s undoubtedly an odd position to take. It’s one thing to be “extremely bullish” on AI, as Grimes frequently describes herself, but it’s another to openly gloat about AI psychosis, a term some experts are using to describe the destructive and delusional mental health …

AI Psychosis and the Need for Human Exceptionalism

AI Psychosis and the Need for Human Exceptionalism

Published by Jenni Sidey

AI is a tool with certain potentials and limits across various fields, but basic anthropological confusion can do a lot of damage. What happens when AI programs cease to be seen as mere tools, meant to used in limited ways and used wisely, and are considered “persons?” It sounds silly to pose the question, but that’s where we are. Futurism writer Frank Landymore reports on an Ohio legislative measure to ban human-AI marital unions. The bill must be intended to be preventative, since AI bots and programs aren’t recognized as legal persons (yet), but it speaks to a cultural trend that, if undealt with, could blow out of proportion. Landymore writes, Popular chatbots are capable of being eerily lifelike, effortlessly playing along with any conversation they’re thrown into. Often, the AI responses are sycophantic, confirming a human’s beliefs no matter how unfounded, and creating an impression that they’re actually alive or intelligent. That makes them quite adept at wrapping lonely sad sacks around their fingers. A recent survey, for example, indicated that nearly a third of US …