Innocuous

So just had another episode, or this may be your first. It's time to take a step back, the first thing you need to know don't dwell on the past. Yeah, you painted the walls with mayonnaise and you walked into the Olive Garden thinking you're famous or maybe you had a horrible time and everything that you stood for got shaken into another world. After all, you weren’t in reality.

Here is a bit of history for you, back in the Victorian times, Psychiatrist were called alienist because they thought mental illness had alienated you from yourself.

In the spirit of keeping things historical, Your Psychosis wasn't you, it was your alien. You didn't do that your alien did that. You have to come to terms with the fact that you cannot change being mentally ill. The disorder exists within you. It has done and it will always be there in some way or another.

Psychosis isn't a personality disorder, You can't have therapy for this, Anxiety you just take medication but for people with psychosis or psychotics medication doesn't always work and sometimes it doesn't work in time.

Recognise the signs and symptoms

It's always good to recognise that it is coming, for example, mine is the feeling of the brain or what I call the ‘mist’. It's always good to acknowledge these things and sometimes you know it's coming and that's the worst part because you can't do much about it. Even the medication doesn't always work in time. I have brief psychotic disorder, which is a type of Schizophrenia. I tell my friends around me and the people that love me the second sign, which is dreams or a delusion that I call ‘Boo’. This helps normalise it to them and it helps to understand when I talk about Boo and all these other things that are odd. That they have some comprehension that they can help even if it is just getting me the help I need at that point in time.

Blaming the Alien and not myself

Okay, I do embarrassing things in my episodes. But that wasn't me that was my alien. Because at that point in time I didn't meet the criteria to be to capably understand what I was doing. In fact, I wasn't in your world I was in my own world. And that wasn't me that did all these things, in your world, it was the alien.

What I'm trying to explain is you can't blame yourself for your actions when you're not mentally there. You're too ill to be there. Your actions and not of your own. I've lost friends over being unwell, and that really hurts because I love those people but the alien push them away and I have no control over what the alien does. I have control over recognising that alien and I can prevent the alien from showing up, by taking my medication and looking after myself.

Formication is a psychosis where the person experiences tactile hallucinations. These tactile hallucinations take place on the body in the form of bugs. This psychosis is unique and can lead to delusions, where the person believes that they have been infected with insects.

I have these experiences; they’re very distressing to me. It’s not just that you feel an insect crawling across you. It’s also the belief these insects can hurt you. Maybe they’ll be crawling in your ears; perhaps they’re crawling in your heart. If you google formication, you will find heaps of people asking why they are experiencing these hallucinations, and the answer is usually anxiety. They should check these feelings out by with the GP and any scratches that the problem has caused you.

Psychosis
If you want to know what psychosis is click here. However, if you would like to know more about psychosis and how to deal with experiences of psychotic episodes click here.

What to do when you are experiencing formication
The best thing to do is to focus on something else, just like hearing voices, these are hallucinations. However, if sleeping is the problem, doing five senses will probably prolong the experience which you can find here. Try to focus on something you love in your head, imagine cuddling it and feel its warmth and touch against your body. Smile as you do this, and you will feel a little better too. Think of all the times you are together and experience those feelings, wants and needs.

Formication usually is brief and happens at the early stage of night when you’re trying to sleep. This type, although distressing rarely leads to anything more than a few scratches. The problem that most people find is that there is nothing that can be done about this. It’s true, there isn’t anything that can be done, and this is because the person experiencing these feelings believe it at the time of formication. So what we can do? Well, nothing, I can’t help you in that department. Usually, these experiences will go on their own, sometimes it’s a sign of something different, and then medication will need to be given for X, Y and Z. I will, however, give you a few tips.

Don’t scratch or slap away the bugs. This is because scratching damages your skin, over time, scratching can cause harm and hurt you. Formication can last for months even years, so the best thing to do is think twice before scratching yourself. Don’t put objects in places. Before I mentioned that I get mine crawling in my ears, well I put a pair of tweezers in my ear and perforated my eardrum. I can highly recommend not doing this. Putting objects in your body can cause harm to yourself, and won’t stop the problem, remember, it’s all in your head. Don’t cut holes in yourself to let the bugs have a way to get out. Self-mutilation is often a sign of a severe case of formication and usually that it’s gone further than anxiety. However, I understand the logic behind this, but it will not help, and the opening will get infected.

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