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Something’s not right

Former-Member
Not applicable

seeing bugs

When I'm stressed, like this morning, i see bugs that are not there. Sometimes i jump into action searching for it to eradicate it but its not there. These are the bad times, usually its like today when a one small black thing runs behind a picture or across the floor but i look & its not there. Been getting this since my daughter died (couple years back now) but not distressing me, just annoying. Haven't told s health prof as afraid i'll get the 'psychosis' label, but this forum is anonymous so i can risk it. The other worrying symptom that is exacerbated by stress (today as well) is loud cecata sounds in my ears. When are these things 'normal' & not? Who's really qualified to say? Does medication really help anyway?
3 REPLIES 3

Re: seeing bugs

Hi Tawney, recently I looked up the difference between neurosis and psychosis, because it wasn't clear in my own mind what the difference was, and what I found out was very interesting to me.

Neurosis seems to describe depression and anxiety, a normal state of mind when we know what is real and what is not, and we know who we are and what our beliefs are, but we have distorted thinking that affects our life and the way we live, where psychosis is when we, as people, change our reality, via our perceptions, i.e. hearing and vision, etc; why we do this has something to do, apparently, with our subconscious mind, which shields our conscious mind from things that are too tough to face or too painful (this is a gross simplification).

The medication can help if you need to get on with life and the bugs are scaring the crap out of you, but they don't seem to be scaring you from what I read...Just annoying you.

So really it's up to you if you want to take medication, also if you want to tell a doctor (psychiatrist); just be aware... In my experience psychiatrists these days don't do psychotherapy; at least, not that I've found... Really they just hand you meds and tell you to take them, maybe they'll weigh you and take your blood pressure if you're fortunate.

Former-Member
Not applicable

Re: seeing bugs

Thanks. Sounds like you understand. Guess I know. Its all about if one is coping or not.

Re: seeing bugs

I had myself assessed for something similar last year. Apparently having mild hallucinations or delusions brought on by stress is a thing of its own - seperate from psyschosis. "Psychotic symptoms caused by stress" - but not psychosis. I don't know if that makes you feel any better... Either way it sounds like you know the cause - stress. If only it were easy to fix.

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