Reblogged obstinaterixatrix
i have never met an unpsychotic person who knows what it actually means to “not encourage the delusion” …not a single one
what “don’t encourage the delusion” means:
- don’t argue with or challenge the delusion—attempting to disprove someone’s delusions is not helpful at all and will result in that person not trusting you
- assure the delusional person that they are safe; be open and honest at all times
- encourage them to verbalize their feelings and offer protection to prevent injury to themselves or, possibly, others
- start building a trusting relationship with them rather than acting on a desire to control their symptoms
- do not confirm or feed into the delusion by asking questions about it when the person is not experiencing a psychotic episode
what it does not mean:
- insisting to a psychotic person experiencing psychosis that what they’re experiencing isn’t real
I don’t mean to trivialize psychosis by making a weird comparison, but this guide also serves as a handy checklist for helping someone through a bad drug trip. In both cases your number one priority is to get the person through whatever they’re dealing with unharmed.
i don’t think it’s trivializing at all, nor a weird comparison—as a psychotic person who has had psychotic episodes inadvertently triggered by drug use and/or worsened while trying to self-medicate with drugs, i think this is an important addition.
