Psychotic Depression

One of the severe forms of general depression condition is the psychotic depression. The symptoms and treatment for psychotic depression are different from other non-psychotic major depressive disorder. This disorder occurs along with psychosis that causes hallucinations, delusions and the person tends to break away from reality. These people become paranoid and think their thoughts are not their own. They may even begin to believe their thoughts are being broadcasted and people can hear them. This is a chronic and cyclic condition where the patient may suffer from extreme episodes of depression. During these episodes, there are more chances of the patient committing suicide.

The patients of psychotic depression, unlike those suffering from schizophrenia, are aware that their hallucinations, delusions, thoughts are all unreal. This makes them even more embarrassed to seek help or treatment. This also makes the condition difficult to diagnose as the patients tend to hide their problems. This increases the risk of developing psychotic depression, extreme episodes of psychotic depression and suicide.

Causes of Psychotic Depression
The exact cause of psychotic depression is still a debatable topic. Some doctors believe it has genetic link up. People who have a history of depression in their family, are more likely to develop psychotic depression. Some believe it is due to side effects of certain drugs or abnormal thyroid function. Most of the researchers believe high levels of cortisol hormone in blood leads to psychotic depression and anxiety.

Symptoms of Psychotic Depression
There are certain symptoms of psychotic depression that may be able to help spot a person suffering from this mental illness. These people have an irrational thought pattern and show strange behavioral characteristics. They are paranoid about certain things and tend to see or hear things that are not actually present. The common psychotic depression symptoms are as follows:

• Extremely agitated behavior
• Anxiety
• Constipation
• Insomnia
• Hypochondria
• Physical immobility
• Cognitive impairment
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Episodes of mania

Patient with psychotic depression tend to think they are being given special attention by other people or someone is trying to persecute them. They will spend years feeling guilty about some past misdeeds and think they are being punished for things that in reality does not concern them. They may even feel their health is failing or they are suffering from some kind of disease. In reality, they are perfectly normal and healthy. They may even suffer from wailing during the night and suffer from memory problems.

Psychotic Depression in Elderly
It has been seen that older people tend to suffer from depression as compared to others. This is because they undergo many life changing experiences. They may have to depend on social services for their monetary needs, may develop some kind of disability, become ill, lose a spouse to death, they may retire or have to depend on others for help. This causes psychotic depression in elderly. They become more and more paranoid and feel worthless. They may have feeling of guilt for not begin able to do simple tasks. They become delusional and hallucinate things that are not there in reality. There are many behavioral changes in elderly that makes them think about committing suicide.

Psychotic Depression in Teenagers
Psychotic depression in teenagers leads to highest number of suicide in teens. They are often suffering from poor decision-making habits. Teens with psychotic depression tend to have a very low self-esteem. Their behavior is generally thought of any general fluctuation in behavior by many parents. Psychotic depression in teenagers makes them think and listen to voices that are not real. They struggle with their role in the family and are constantly seeking independence. They are in a turmoil regarding their academic and career decisions. They become socially withdrawn, their performance academically becomes very poor, they may take drugs or drink alcohol and there is increase in risk taking behavior. It is very important to spot psychotic depression in teenagers as they are more prone to self harm and suicides.

Psychotic Behavior in Children
The tendency to develop psychotic behavior in children has increased manifold in past few decades. This because the children are exposed to many different types of things that makes them confused and prone to depression. They are still immature mentally as well as physically. However, they may not be able to express their feelings, fears and problems in words. They suffer from phobias, separation anxiety disorders, and report hallucinations in case of psychotic depression in children. The child looks vaguely sick and becomes more tearful. He is easily frustrated and begins to show destructive behavior. He becomes negative about himself and shows poor academic performance. The child begins to hate himself as well as everything around him.

Can Psychotic Depression be Cured?
Many patients and their family often ask can psychotic depression be cured? The answer to this question is psychotic depression is fully curable. The patient can overcome psychotic depression without ever having a relapse. The psychotic depression treatment includes use of medications to control the levels of cortisol in blood. In some cases, the patient may be hospitalized to prevent them from causing self harm. Under constant supervision, medications like antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs as well as regular follow-ups, the patient is treated from psychotic depression.

The psychotic depression recovery takes about a year with treatment. It is very important to undergo regular follow-ups to reduce the psychotic depression recovery time. This was all about psychotic depression symptoms and cures. If you feel someone around you is suffering from psychotic depression symptoms, please help him/her seek medical help. This way you may help stop someone from committing suicide and saving a life of a loved one.