On behalf of Sheway - A voluntary program that provides services to women (101-533 East Hastings):
We have been experiencing an increase in the number of our clients presenting with drug induced psychosis when using stimulants. It has been very difficult for us to find treatment for our clients when they present as the emergency system is not able to treat them. When we are concerned for client safety we call the VPD and then they have to wait for EMT to arrive, if the client is not wanting to go with EMT, they are sometimes arrested, taken to Emergency and then released in a short period of time. This has become a revolving door for a few of our clients and is not effective treatment.
Have any other service providers noted an increase in Drug Induced psychosis?
Have you developed a protocol for treatment of drug induced psychosis in community?
CoP callers from today's call (5/12/2019) please refer to this forum post about Psychosis ^^
I have not actually seen any increase in drug-induced psychosis in my service providing, I just know that in my experience (first hand) I suffer psychotic episodes when I:
- Don't eat
- Don't hydrate (drink clean water regularly)
- Don't sleep
- Insist on dwelling in emotionally taxing thought processes or behavior for which I have not established a solid foundation of fact-based evidence/verifiable experience
- Preemptively engage/repress my secondary emotions (anger, sadness) without having first acknowledged/processed my primary symptoms (confusion, fear, uncertainty/certainty) based in the realities of a given situation.
I would recommend to a person experiencing drug-induced psychosis to consider the following:
a) the altered state of consciousness caused by the drug intake and then, if possible, stop taking the drug (because it's probably not actually the drug causing the psychosis, but the continued lack of nutrition combined with sleep deprivation)
b) Eating (nutritional foods),
c) Hydrate on a regular basis (sip clean water throughout the day)
d)if possible, try sleeping a bit (non-medicated). I know this can be difficult in Vancouver, and we need to address this.
e) Seeking out someone to talk to that they trust (someone who knows them, who will listen and not call the cops) in order to explain their situation/experience. Oftentimes, that is all I need: someone to listen with an open mind. Once I have spoken my feelings and thoughts, really broken down the details, examined the possible vs. the impossible, the likely vs. the unlikely, I am usually in more of a grounded and centered position to make rational decisions, rather than allowing emotional distress to guide my fragile mind-body state into further unchecked uncertainty.
Here's a cool video and the link to the website, which is in America, but still...hope it helps
https://youtu.be/9Zj1v_YqyP8