Psychosis (young people) Being in school, college and university with psychosis

Many people we spoke to experienced psychosis while they were studying at school, college or university and some were still in education. Andrew X was training to be a social worker and Nikki was training to be a Mental Health nurse. A few had left school and started work when they first experienced psychosis or ended their course early because of their psychotic experiences. People talked about how psychosis had affected their studies and about the help they received in the early stages of experiencing psychosis. Some also talked about the stigma and discrimination they had experienced from their peers and from school teachers and administrators.

Being in school in the lead up to their first experience of psychosis was a very difficult time for some of the young people. Tariq, Nikki, Andrew X, Barry and Sam experienced bullying in school and felt it had contributed to their psychosis. Some felt that teachers and those in positions of authority had not intervened, and blamed them instead of the bullies. This caused them to feel frustrated and angry and some began to blame themselves, which also fed into their psychotic experiences.

When people were unwell other young people could be judgemental and unkind. This made it difficult to talk about what was happening. When Luke, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was in sixth form college he said everyone was very “fickle”. He was offered counselling but refused because he didn’t want to be labelled as “the kid that sees the counsellor”.

A few stopped attending school because they were not coping well. Aside from the psychotic experiences themselves, lack of concentration, difficulties socialising with their peers and managing with little or no sleep all affected their performance. Emily stopped going to school and worked from home instead. She tried going to college but only stayed for a month because, although she could understand the lessons, her mental health “got in the way”.

Read the full available article at HealthTalk

Reflection: Have you ever experienced psychosis? What role do you think school/university plays in triggering a psychotic episode?

#Psychosis #Student #Coping