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Psychotic depression is a condition in which people who suffer from major depression also suffer from a combination of delusional thinking and auditory and visual hallucinations. It is estimated that 25% of the people who are admitted to a hospital for depression also suffer from psychotic depression. The psychosis of this type of depression can cause its sufferers to become paranoid and believe that others are controlling or listening to their thoughts. They can begin to lose touch with reality as their hallucinations and delusions grow. They begin to believe the thoughts or voices they hear criticizing them and putting them down. The paranoia and imagined thoughts and voices only make the depression side of the equation worse. A psychotic depressive has a very high risk of suicide because many times the voices they hear lead them down that path, telling them they don’t deserve to live and should kill themselves. The delusions and hallucinations are much like those suffered by people with other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The difference is that many people who suffer psychotic depression are aware that the thoughts aren’t true or that they are imagining them. A schizophrenic on the other hand does not understand this and believes their delusional thinking to be true. The psychotic depressive can be ashamed or embarrassed by these hallucinations and may try to hide what is happening to them. This can make diagnosing the condition more difficult than need be. The symptoms of psychotic depression include: • Anxiety • Agitation • Hypochondria • Insomnia • Physical Immobility • Constipation • Cognitive Impairment Research into the cause has shown that those who suffer from this illness have high levels of the hormone cortisol in their blood. Cortisol is responsible for the fight or flight response people have during times of stress. Treating psychotic depression can be achieved with a combination anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication. In some cases electroconvulsive therapy has been shown to be effective in treating the condition but is only used as a backup therapy. It is important to note that treatment for this condition usually requires hospitalization and continued monitoring by a professional mental health therapist. If the proper treatment is obtained the prognosis for those who suffer psychotic depression is good, but it can take up to a year or more to be effective. Sufferers of this condition have a much higher recurrence rate, particularly for the depressive symptoms. It is therefore important that anyone who has suffered from and has been successfully treated continue to see their doctor or therapist to help mitigate the recurrence of the illness. Andrew Bicknell is a writer, Webmaster and the owner of Depression and You. Visit his website for more information about depression and other depressive disorders.
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