Subclinical Psychosis – Can You Be A Little Psychotic?

Subclinical psychosis is a term some researchers have used to describe psychotic symptoms in people who don’t have a primary psychotic illness or as a way to identify people who are prone to later get a psychotic illness. It’s not really meant to describe a situation where you’re just a little bit psychotic. However, there is a concept of psychosis spectrum which grades illnesses based on how many psychotic symptoms are present.

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Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor.

[sweetiepiehoney]

Dissociation feels mildly sedated.
Sometimes heavily sedated.
As a child living with the abuser you can black them out while not other people.

[daffodil]

You can also experience psychotic episodes when seriously malnourished and/or have not eaten for a long time (several days, weeks), which may prompt a diagnosis which probably wouldn't be applicable when the person is adequately nourished.

[pythonjava]

I've had a psychotic episode once during a particularly bad period of my life. Unfortunately I was "blessed" with highly religious and abusive parents who told me that I was "making up demons" and accused me of wasting their money when I asked to see a psychologist

[WhatsThePointBahamas]

i don't remember how or why i subscribed to this channel, but it gives me some level of peace to hear the good Doctor speak so calmly about all this stuff

[cajunbeauty]

My father had psychosis. I’ll tell you this, at 15 years old watching my Dad “see” things outside of our house, scared then hell outta me! He would have business meetings in his room and nobody would be in there with him. He would abuse alcohol and he also had to take prescription meds. Idk if this had something to do with him having a severe head injury in the army or not but now as an adult, I understand and have compassion for what he had went through. When I was 15, I didn’t really understand. Living with that, and my mother being a narcissist…I had a really stressful life ☹️

[thelighthousez]

So close to a million subs, Great work Dr. Marks.
You're a great inspiration for someone who is trying really hard to get in med school and become a psychiatrist. I fall in love more and more with psychology/psychiatry when I watch your videos.

Thank you for your hard work <3

[bobhanover]

Dr. Marks, I love your videos! They are the clearest most understandable videos on YouTube. I have Borderline, Depression. I always send your videos to my therapist and she loves it.

[adrienbrook]

Could you make a video clarifying on dissociative "seeing/hearing things" ? I've been having weird sensory stuff like that recently and I'd like to learn more in-depth what it is

[dragonspitchrk]

Not sure if I should be looking forward to this one…😁

You’ve been a huge help this year. Thank you!

[MsJackii]

This makes me feel great knowing that these symptoms you described is just dissociation. I understand and that makes me feel comforted. Thank you 🙏

[coryhealy]

My mother was borderline. She swore people were coming into the house and moving things. As a kid it was scary, always thinking someone would break in.

[Rad_Akali]

This is a wonderful video, thank you for drawing awareness to "mild" psychotic symptoms, and how they can show up as a result of other mental illnesses and severe states. One thing though, that I think is extremely important to touch on specifically and that was left out; is PTSD. In this context, psychotic PTSD. And that a hell of a lot of the depression, anxiety; and particularly the dissociation that people experience, can and often does come from trauma. Childhood trauma is an especially strong cause of predisposition to psychotic PTSD; as it goes on for a very long period of time, and is in your formative years no less and with you being very helpless and vulnerable.
It changes the structure and behavior of the brain so dramatically... as does any active PTSD from any source. And beyond that, the continued states of high stress and anxiety that many people experience, from abusive situations and poverty, homelessness, other disabilities, whatever else; compounds to that state of traumatization and when things add up, or when especially it's back to back and you've no time to process and heal; makes things worsen and worsen and worsen. And you're at risk of experiencing psychotic symptoms as a result of the PTSD state. PTSD can be seen as a cause; depression anxiety and dissociation are symptoms. Of course, there are people who have those things without having any real PTSD to speak of, and who have relatively good lives. But the significance of trauma in mental health, the commonality, and the severity; can't be overlooked.

I hope I don't come across as telling you how to do your job; I'm not the one with the PHD! I don't mean to be rude; I'm simply very passionate about this subject. Because my experience is being one of the people I'm talking about in my paragraph above. You don't need to read the rest of this; it's real long and I understand. But I think it adds to the message of the video; it's why I thought I'd share.
In summary, long term childhood abuse of various kind, eliciting a constant and severe level of stress and dissociation that never left and now I have a strong dissociative disorder. Truly debilitating depression and anxiety; and a lot of your standard PTSD symptoms. When I am especially bad, I begin to get the psychotic symptoms you're talking about. Disorganized speech and behavior are the most common, I've been suffering those ones severely lately and I am having extreme difficulty functioning from the communication and day to day function impairments. (Writing is a lot easier.) I've had big memory issues all my life from the dissociation, when I'm worse they're worse. From there if I'm truly in crisis I will begin to have paranoid delusions, and at the worst I will begin to hear things.

It's all from trauma. A year and a half ago, I began to try psilocybin psychotherapy. I did it ten or so times and it was absolutely transformational. I am overjoyed that they are finally doing studies on the effectiveness of psilocybin mushrooms for PTSD, depression and anxiety. They began with veterans, and those who have participated are blown away by how much it helped those things for them; and deeply grateful. Maybe you've heard about this; if not please do look it up! It's wonderful to read about. But anyway, for about half a year I was mostly healed. PTSD, depression, anxiety, lifted in a way I never dreamed could be real. But it's not a magic pill of course, nothing ever is. I had to do a hell of a lot of integration work, I was in the intense journey of facing all those things in my past; I was teaching myself how to adjust to how radically different, yet how much better, my thought processes and my mind suddenly was; but I straight up began to shine. I was pulling my physical health together, I got a better job, improved my relationships and found a couple new friends, got more confident, engaged with life, felt able to be creative, learned what happiness felt like. Imagine that. Learned what happiness felt like; and that beautiful plant made me feel it so much.

Then something absolutely horrific happened to me about seven months ago. I'm lucky to be alive; I have a very severe injury that's slowly healing, and with a stupid amount of medications and a very weakened body I've been hesitant to take psilocybin again; just out of anxiety and knowing that if I walked directly through the trauma right now it might be too much. Although I desperately need it for how my symptoms have completely returned. I have the insights, of course; I remember where I was then so I know I can get there again. But this new trauma I've been living (it negatively changed every facet of my life by a lot), combined with my closest friend who I relied on dying a couple months ago too...I'm at one of the lowest times I've ever been in my life, for certain. In some ways the lowest. And, my symptoms are all back; the depression in particular very severe.

I'll get back there; I'm sure of it. It's just going to take a lot of time. The end point of saying what's happened to me is simply that absolutely; episodes of moderate psychotic symptoms can surface when a person doesn't have an overall psychotic disorder; and that they come from ptsd, depression, dissociation; and anxiety. Which are often all one nasty cocktail together as it is.

I'm having a terribly rough go of it for sure. But at least I have the knowledge that it will actually get better again; and continue onward from there.

[thinkingjohn]

When I had a psychotic episode it was both the worst & best time of my life, the best part finally coming out of my introvert self and doing crazy harmless fun stuff but the worst part a relative phoned the police that I was acting weird then placed in a pysc unit for 6 weeks, I couldn't help but stop talking to my relative for couple of years even though it was the right thing to do

[AeriaGlris]

Now that you mention it, I have a very hard time recalling memories from high school. That wasn't a great time in my life, and the memories I do recall are, I'm sure, scant compared to what I should remember. Now I'm wondering if I was dissociating a lot during that part of my life.

[BREY-xkvc]

I think I endure dissociation more than usual. This is relatable

[benzz]

It is so hard trying to find a job with a mental disorder. Most jobs don't want to deal with that. I used to try and avoid putting it on applications, but I began to have bad outbursts when I felt attacked to the point when I can be explosive, usually resulting me quiting.

[DemetriPanici]

I had never thought about this as a spectrum. Very interesting question!

[heyborttheeditor]

Great vid! Thank you. I was informally diagnosed with schizotypal traits a while ago. Luckily I’ve been able to change my behavior pattern by switching to a materialist and logical understanding

[franzvanjulio]

Great video, as always, Dr. Marks! It’s very easy to listen to your videos and they’re always packed with good information.

[maksimnastoski]

Can you make a video on health anxiety again? I feel happy knowing that my mind is making up all these headaches, sensations, twitches or itchiness etc etc.