Affective psychosis is a psychological disorder that causes a loss of touch with reality and mood disturbances. It can be caused by mental illness, brain injury, medications, or severe emotional trauma. Treatment involves determining the underlying cause and providing appropriate medications and therapies. Severe cases may require hospitalization.
Affective psychosis is a psychological disorder in which people experience a loss of touch with reality and experience mood disturbances as a result. “Affection” in the psychological sense refers to a person’s emotional state, and mood disorders may develop in people with affective psychosis. Bipolar disorder is an example of a psychiatric condition in which this type of psychosis can be observed. This term is used to refer to cases where psychosis manifests itself mainly in the form of emotion and mood changes.
People who experience this condition may have disordered thoughts and an inability to fully connect with the world around them due to their loss of touch with reality. They may experience paranoia and delusions, such as convincing themselves that people are out to get them. They may develop flat affect, in which they seem unemotional and callous, or they may experience wild mood swings. Both mania and depression can be seen, with patients in a very agitated or deeply unhappy state, and the time between mood changes can be very short.
Inadequate emotional responses are sometimes seen in patients with this psychiatric problem. Patients may burst out laughing at odd moments or experience other emotional extremes. A lack of connection to one’s surroundings can also alienate the patient from people, especially when psychosis comes with delusions about the people in the patient’s life. This can cause patients to act in the belief that they are defending themselves or others from harm.
Treatment of affective psychosis requires determination of the underlying cause. While it can be associated with mental illness, it can also be caused by brain injury, medications, or problems such as severe emotional trauma. The patient may be interviewed by mental health professionals, as well as receive a comprehensive medical screen to check for other causes. Once the underlying problem has been determined, appropriate medications, including mood-stabilizing drugs and therapies, can be provided to the patient.
When affective psychosis is severe, mood stabilizers can be tried immediately to see if the patient’s emotions can be improved as quickly as possible. Patients at risk of suicide or harm to others may be admitted to hospital for monitoring as they go through the process of diagnosis and treatment. These cases are unusual and relatively rare; in most cases, people can receive an outpatient evaluation while their psychosis is analyzed to determine what is causing it and to develop an appropriate treatment plan.
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