5 Steps for managing an acute mental break

1.Assess Safety & Ensure immediacy: Check for immediate danger to yourself as well as the person or others in the vicinity, with consideration to self harm, suicidal ideation, or violence. Understand the onset of this episode may have been sudden, with intense shifts in mood, thoughts or behavior that is significantly impacting their daily life. Example: Severe anxiety attacks, sudden panic, intense sadness, difficulty functioning or overwhelming intrusive thoughts.

If you deem immediate danger exists, call emergency services (eg 000 Australia, 911 in US/999 UK) If you assess an emergency situation call the appropriate number immediately.

2. Stay calm and listen. Maintain a safe space for yourself and be prepared to change location to reduce stimuli. Continually reassess danger in consideration of risk of harm to yourself or others. Engage the person without judgement and maintain a calm demeanor to help de-escalate the situation. Listen actively without interruption or minimization of their feelings!

3. Offer support and reassurance to enable connection. Validate their feelings (eg.”that sounds incredibly overwhelming”.) and remind them you are there for them and that help is available. Provide a grounding environment and facilitate self soothing, deep breathing ,(if you can,) focus on slow, deep breaths to calm your nervous system and they may respond as well. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 technique which involves identifying, 5 things, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, 1 you can taste! Take a gentle walk to stretch and for sensory comfort a warm drink, soft blanket or comforting scent, if available, may be useful tools. Note that this may have very little impact on someone who has lost touch with reality. In fact it may be counterproductive. Locate a trusted person such as a friend, family or mentor who can offer support.

Utilize the helplines and call mental health crisis who may know the person and can offer immediate confidential support. Approach community groups who can offer local peer support groups for shared experiences for person to attend in the future. Following this event you may require input from professional staff to debrief and absolutely should seek follow-up if you are feeling traumatized or want feedback on the event.

4. Assist the person to connect to crisis resources for intervention and ongoing support. Encourage contact with mental healthline, life line the Crisis Assessment team (CAT) or other community mental health service for professional guidance. This person may have a pre-existing plan available. Follow those recommendations.

5. Encourage follow up and professional care over the longer term to avoid further episodes. Stay with the person or arrange a trusted person to stay until professional help arrives or crisis subsides.

Praise yourself!

The following is a definition of ‘being out of touch with reality’ or ‘psychotic’! Both these terms are used to describe a collection of symptoms.

During a psychotic episode the persons thoughts and perceptions are disrupted and they have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is not. Psychosis is a symptom, not a diagnosis and can be associated with a number of mental health conditions, medical conditions or related to substance use!

The core symptoms (main features) that are indicative of psychosis are characterized as positive symptoms (experiences that are ‘added’ to reality.

These include:

-Delusions (fixed, false beliefs)

-Hallucinations (false perceptions involving any of the five senses)

-Disorganized Thinking and Speech.

A psychotic person may also exhibit negative symptoms (a reduction in normal function and behavioral changes.

Disorganized or unusual behavior:

-Might include behaving inappropriately for the situation ie laughing at a funeral or when receiving sad news.

-Difficulty with daily hygiene tasks

-Agitation or sudden, unpredictable bursts of activity

Changed Emotions

-Showing less emotion (flat affect) or having dampened feelings

-Mood swings, feeling highly excited or severely depressed.

Social Withdrawal

-Losing interest in friends, family and social activities.

-Spending much more time alone than usual.

Cognitive Difficulty

-Trouble concentrating or following a conversation.

-Difficulty remembering things.

Note: For a diagnosis such as schizophrenia a person must experience two or more symptoms for at least six months, with at least one of the symptoms being delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech. Ensure a diagnosis is provided by a verified professional.

Email me if you have any questions, opinions or experiences

info2wisdomwiit@gmail.com

Cheers