What are Some Strange Things People with Psychosis Say?

What are Some Strange Things People with Psychosis Say? Vol. 563, August 27, 2020

This was an interesting question that a person on Quora asked. Having worked in the field of mental health, I had three interesting stories to share. Here is my answer.

Thanks for this very interesting question which few people ever think of really.

I have three stories of three different people that I can share with you regarding this very subject.

Case #1:

Way back in 1993 I was working in a social club for adults who were so severely affected by their mental illness that many had to drop out of middle or high school and most could not hold down a job.

I had this client who looked very professorly, with his long black hair, deep brown eyes, and the ever present pipe in his hand or mouth. He was super intelligent, however when he got into a psychotic thinking phase he thought he was Hitler. This made my situation working with him a bit more challenging since I am Jewish. However, over the 1 1/2 years that I worked there it never came out so it was never an issue. One day my ex (whom I was married to at the time) and I were shopping for food in a huge grocery store near us (and near the program since we lived all of 3 blocks from it) and he was there purchasing some food. I was very touched when after he said ‘hi’ he told my ex how much enjoyed having me as one of the counselors at the program. This came from him. So, I introduced him to my ex and then we left.

Case #2:

I had another client who was very fearful of taking showers and went for days on end without doing so – and yes, he stank! Part of it was that he was a paranoid schizoaffective, meaning that he had paranoia and schizophrenia with the mood disorder on top of it all. Well, during many of our conversations he would speak of wanting to be an astronaut or he would want to be a marine. I later found out from a hospitalization why he chose those two occupations to rest his mind on. It had everything to do with having strict structure in his life which was totally lacking in the environment in which he lived and in which I worked. An amazing thing happened with this client as 17 years later – after I got him moved in to a very structured program and he had passed the test to receive his high school diploma at the age of 35, he was able to move into an apartment of his own with a roommate and move on with his life. He still is on aid for the disabled but he is running his own life – that was the first client I had that I went to bat for in a very purposeful manner as I promised his adoptive parents that though I had no idea how the hell I was going to get him out of the program I was working at and into one that could serve his needs. I told them that come hell or high water it was getting done. The assistant director helped me in making that happen though my 2 directors were both very unhappy that I went over their heads to get this young man (who was my age at the time 33 years old) the correct placement so that he could have a quality of life worth living. One director left in the middle of this little project of mine, and the other was ignorant and truthfully, a very dangerous man to have as the director of the program given his militant attitude toward the clients.

Case #3:

There is a person who married into the family who I do not get along with at all who also has psychotic features. When he gets into this state he believes he is “Jesus Christ” himself. While in a more lucid state he contends that he is a Mormon, though the drinking of alcoholic beverages (most especially in bars where he met my family member) and having premarital sex, would state otherwise. In any case, this sort of thinking can demonstrate the disconnect of the truly ‘lived’ life from that of the inner thinking of those with serious mental health issues.

Thanks again for asking the question because it hopefully has given a bit more concrete understanding of what it truly means to have ‘psychotic features’ in terms of the thinking that occurs in those affected.