Can Anxiety Cause Psychosis? Understanding the Differences Between Anxiety-Induced Psychosis and Anxiety with Psychotic Features
It is possible for anxiety to lead to psychosis symptoms—often called anxiety induced psychosis—when a person’s anxiety is particularly severe. However, such an instance of psychosis is different from an actual psychotic disorder in the cause and treatment approaches. Regardless of the root disorder, it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis and urgent care for anxiety with psychotic features and the underlying condition driving the symptoms.
When Christine gave birth to Ben, she was determined to keep her anxiety under control so she could give him the best care and love possible. But at the time, she wasn’t getting any treatment for her disorder. To complicate matters, the pressure she was putting on herself to keep things under control was, in fact, aggravating her anxiety under the surface.
On days when she was under severe stress and anxious, she would hear a baby crying from somewhere close by—an example of stress induced psychosis tied to escalating anxiety. She’d go check Ben’s room, but he was napping soundly. She recognized that the crying wasn’t Ben and wasn’t coming from a real source at all. But that realization didn’t help make the crying go away.
She wondered, can anxiety lead to psychosis? Or did she have another problem taking hold in her mind? It wasn’t until she visited a treatment center that she found clear answers about anxiety and psychosis, as well as meaningful relief for her distress.
Is It True That Anxiety Can Lead to Psychosis?
When someone’s anxiety disorder is bad enough that they suffer from panic and anxiety attacks, it is possible to simultaneously experience psychotic symptoms—what some describe as anxiety psychosis. But this experience is distinct from a primary psychotic disorder and is better understood as anxiety with psychotic features.
What Are the Symptoms of Psychosis?
When a person is experiencing symptoms of psychosis—whether due to a psychotic disorder or anxiety induced psychosis—they have lost touch with reality in some way. It becomes difficult to experience the external world as it really is. They may perceive things that aren’t really there.
- Hallucinations can be visual or auditory; during a psychotic anxiety episode, a person may hear voices or see things that aren’t there.
- Delusions are fixed beliefs that aren’t based in reality and can appear during severe anxiety with psychotic features.
- Paranoia can intensify delusional beliefs as the person experiences intense fear over perceived threats, a pattern sometimes seen in stress induced psychosis.
Not only can severe anxiety trigger these symptoms, but psychosis can also worsen a person’s distress, creating a feedback loop between anxiety and psychosis. Their anxiety symptoms may get worse in response to the psychotic features themselves, as well as the realization that they are losing control of their mind in the moment. However, unlike a primary psychotic disorder, psychotic symptoms related to anxiety are secondary to anxiety triggers and typically resolve as anxiety lessens.
| Psychotic Disorders | Anxiety with Psychotic Features (sometimes called anxiety induced psychosis) |
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619-466-0547How Does Treatment Differ for Psychotic Disorders and for Anxiety with Psychotic Features?
True psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, brief psychotic disorder, and delusional disorder; these differ from anxiety induced psychosis. Like anxiety, major depression can also provoke psychotic features. Certain substances, such as meth and cannabis, can induce psychotic symptoms. And medical conditions—a brain tumor, for example—can sometimes lead to psychosis as well.
Whereas true psychotic disorders are treated with antipsychotic medications, this type of treatment is not appropriate for psychosis induced by an anxiety disorder. Because, in this case, the symptoms of psychosis were triggered by an overwhelming episode of anxiety, the appropriate treatments, including any medications, target the anxiety itself. For both primary psychotic disorders and anxiety disorders with psychotic features, individual psychotherapy is crucial to manage stress and develop coping strategies.
Because treatment approaches differ depending on the causes and triggers of psychosis, an accurate diagnosis is absolutely critical.
What Is the Best Recovery Approach for Anxiety and Psychosis?
If a diagnosis is delayed or misapplied, a person will not be able to receive the necessary treatment, and their condition can significantly worsen. Therefore, if you or someone you know has experienced psychotic symptoms, it’s important to get clinical attention right away. You can speak to a primary care physician for a referral, contact a psychiatrist directly, or reach out to a treatment center experienced in assessing anxiety-induced psychosis and related conditions.
Anxiety disorders and psychosis are both very serious and distressing; anxiety with psychotic features can compound risks and impair daily life. If left untreated, risks increase for co-occurring substance use disorders, as well as suicidal thoughts and attempts, unemployment, and other kinds of harm. Severe anxiety alone calls for long-term treatment. With the compounding challenges of anxiety and psychosis, the need for expert care and mental health rehabilitation is urgent. In a comprehensive treatment setting, clients receive complete and continuing assessments, as well as individualized treatment plans that take into account all personal concerns and co-occurring issues. Over time, in this welcoming environment, clinicians can help clients to address the root causes of their distress—beyond the psychotic symptoms alone. This journey becomes an opportunity to realign one’s life with enduring support and resources for the future.
Treatment at BrightQuest
BrightQuest Treatment Centers provide leading residential treatment for anxiety disorders, including complex cases of anxiety with psychotic features. We believe our unique model of care gives clients the best chance at success, whether addressing anxiety induced psychosis or a primary psychotic disorder.
- Family integration in treatment for anxiety and psychosis
- Inclusive therapeutic community
- Focus on lasting behavioral change
We offer clients tools, skills, and support to stabilize anxiety and psychosis, building confidence to live a healthy, productive life.
