Brief Psychotic disorder

Few years back, on a normal afternoon, I was returning home from school. I was on my normal route and I wasn’t expecting anything out of the blues to happen. I boarded a cab and was seated at the backseat adjacent to the left door, with an elderly woman in between me and another woman sitting right adjacent to the right door. Barely 15 minutes after the cab moved, it stopped to drop the woman seated close to the right door and pick another passenger. One would have thought that the new passenger would simply come in and the cab will move on but alas the elderly woman beside me alighted and ordered the new passenger to go in and sit in the middle while she seats by the door.
Everyone, including the new passenger, thought it was ridiculous, as she had no reason for getting down. We tried to tell her same but she vehemently refused. Perhaps she insisted because of a delusion she has e.g the seat is her right because she owns the air above that seat; she is not supposed to sit in between 2 people because she is a god or something. What started out as a minor quarrel turned out to be a fight, the cab man got down angrily trying to settle the issue, but we gradually noticed that the elderly woman’s words and behavior was incoherent, she wasn’t making much sense and she was even ready to pull off her clothes.

This went on until a passerby came around to advise us to leave the woman and move on because she wasn’t normal and was known in those parts to display such occasional ‘madness’. This woman was well dressed and one couldn’t have guessed.


A friend of mine shared his experience as well; he was travelling to Delta state from Berger, Lagos. The bus had moved and a young lady had offered to pray for the journey in the bus. She had started well, saying powerful prayers and everyone had been responding with a resounding Amen until suddenly, her prayers transformed to curses. She began to curse the same set of people she had said prayers for, everyone in the buswas alarmed and when they tried to stop her, they realized she was mentally unhinged. She was beautiful, according to him, and well dressed. To his surprise, she had transformed from a well comported enthusiastic Christian to a confused and violent person. The situation degenerated to the point where everyone in the bus insisted the driver had to drop her off or else they wouldn’t continue with the journey. Of course she refused to get down from the bus and it took extra efforts, time and tact to quietly deceive her off the bus. The other passengers had been made to get down and wait at a particular destination while the driver and my friend pretended to continue the journey with her. They were later able to drop her off within Lagos, before going back to get the other passengers and continue with the journey.

The examples of the elderly woman and the young lady fit the description of a brief psychotic disorder. Brief psychotic disorder is a sudden short term display of psychotic behavior, such as hallucinations or delusions which occurs following a stressful event in an otherwise normal individual. It is currently classified within the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders. It is differentiated from other related disorders by its sudden onset, its relatively short duration which is usually less than a month, and in some cases, few days or hours. It is usually characterized by one or more of the following symptoms.
Delusions

Hallucinations

Bizarre behavior and posture

Disorganized speech

Due to the sudden onset and brief duration some might argue that these things are spiritual and therefore, should be treated spiritually. I believe that there are times medical treatment is required and this is one condition that requires it. As is the case with mental disorders, support from loved ones and family also help the victims to recover and cope with this condition.

This mental disorder is very different from full blown psychosis. There are lots of mental disorders that many individuals within the society are secretly going through. But nobody knows, nobody cares until it becomes a societal problem affecting others around. The risk factors for developing brief psychotic disorder, like other mental disorders, can mainly be grouped as biological, psychological and social. Biological factors such as genetics, head trauma, alcohol/illicit drug use, radiation exposure etc; Psychological factors such as childhood abuse and/or neglect, personality types, exposure to mental illness in close relatives etc; social factors such as poverty, poor performance at work/school, loss of a loved one etc.
Most mental disorders are never fully cured, but providing a strong support team of medical and mental health professionals for victims is usually helpful to help improve their quality of life.

Victims of Psychological ailments can be helped to get over it by

Helping them re-live only good memories,


helping them redirect their thoughts through gentle discussion

Friends and relatives must avoid playing along with their delusions, do not be confrontational or harsh with them. Be gentle and honest with them but do not talk about the disorder in a way that implies mental illness is something to be ashamed of.

Use of appropriate medications as prescribed by a qualified mental health care practitioner.

Also all situations respond to prayers and prayers work wonders.

All in all, since we cannot deny that there are people like this in our midst, therefore we cannot ignore them or assume they are of less importance. We can only do our best to help the ones around us. After all statistics suggests that over 1million individuals in the society may at least have one hidden mental disorder they are battling. In other words, everyone needs care, help and acceptance.