The Timeline of Meth Psychosis and Effective Treatment Options
Many people associate long-term meth use with its physical symptoms – weight loss, thinning hair, skin sores from picking, and poor oral health. If you or a loved one have ever struggled with this highly addictive drug, however, it becomes clear that there are severe mental side effects as well.
Meth psychosis describes some of these mental symptoms. What starts as anxiety and paranoia can spiral into obsessive thinking and behaviors, hallucinations, and delusions. Meth psychosis can be a dangerous state, as it causes you to act in ways that you wouldn’t normally. You may find yourself in situations threatening your own or a loved one’s safety.
Now that you know what these mental symptoms are called, how long does meth psychosis last? Keep reading to learn more about the meth psychosis timeline, what to expect, and how Purpose Healing Center can help you overcome these intense symptoms.
What is Methamphetamine Psychosis?
Meth-induced psychosis describes a state of anxiety, paranoia, and delusions that sometimes occurs after long-term meth addiction. It can also happen after quitting meth cold turkey, especially once you’ve developed methamphetamine dependence.
Meth psychosis may present with tactile hallucinations, visual hallucinations, or auditory hallucinations. This means you might see, hear, or feel things that the people around you are not experiencing. It’s also common to feel like the people around you are plotting against you, making it hard to get help.
What Causes Meth-Induced Psychosis?
The alert and euphoric feelings associated with meth use happen because the drug overstimulates certain areas of the brain. Using meth causes a chemical imbalance in the central nervous system.
With prolonged meth use, your brain doesn’t have time to recuperate following this imbalance. This leads to mood swings and other psychotic symptoms, including paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.
Meth psychosis is most common in meth users who have a pre-existing psychotic disorder, especially a history of schizophrenia. However, meth-induced psychosis can occur in healthy people, too! Acute withdrawal and co-occurring substance intoxication can also cause substance-related psychosis.
Common Psychotic Symptoms of Meth Psychosis
In its earliest stages, meth psychosis often starts with paranoia. You may feel that people are watching you or that they are “out to get you.” Other common symptoms associated with meth-induced psychosis include:
- Erratic, rapid thoughts that may not make sense
- Strong beliefs about things that might not be true
- Behaving erratically or irrationally
- Hearing or seeing things that aren’t there
This state can be scary because it’s impossible to know how someone dealing with meth-induced psychosis will react. They can be dangerous to themselves and the people around them.
Identifying Meth-Induced Psychosis in a Loved One
It can be scary when a friend or loved one is experiencing a psychotic episode. It can also be hard to identify psychiatric symptoms since you do not know what is going on in their head. Some behavioral symptoms of meth-induced psychosis to watch for include:
- Seeming jumpy, agitated, or over-reactive
- Uncharacteristic behavioral changes
- Social withdrawal or paranoia
- Rapidly shifting speech that doesn’t always make sense
- Speaking to someone or something you cannot see
- Violent behavior
- Dilated pupils, sweating, or other signs of meth use
When a loved one is struggling with substance-induced psychotic disorder, your next steps can stop them from hurting themselves or someone else.
To be clear: if your loved one is in imminent danger of harming themselves or another person, contact emergency services immediately.
If the need is less acute, and the crisis is ongoing rather than immediate, contact Purpose today for guidance in navigating this difficult process and convincing your loved one to get the help they need to heal.
The Timeline of Meth Psychosis
In the case of dose-related psychotic symptoms, paranoia and other symptoms of psychosis may fade as the methamphetamine high wears off. According to JAMA Psychiatry, this can take anywhere from 2-3 hours to several days, though prolonged use can cause psychotic episodes that last much longer. The existence of a pre-existing mental health condition can also change the timeline for methamphetamine psychosis.
Even after quitting, heavy users might have persistent psychosis for up to six months. Chronic methamphetamine users might also develop permanent brain damage and lasting psychosis symptoms. This is most common with extremely heavy, chronic drug use and in people who have a family history of psychotic symptoms.
Psychosis Caused By Psychiatric Disorders
Sometimes, psychotic symptom onset precedes using methamphetamine for the first time. This happens when you are struggling with an existing mental health disorder that may trigger psychosis.
In these cases, meth use might begin as a way of self-medicating or escaping the symptoms of mental illness. Delusions develop after using meth (imaginary meth mites being one example) but they may not go away when you quit.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists several mental health conditions that have psychosis as a possible symptom. This includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, severe depression, postpartum, antisocial personality disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Head trauma, illness, delusional disorder (caused by beliefs), sleep deprivation, and drug-induced psychosis can also cause psychotic symptoms.
How to Treat Meth-Induced Psychosis
It can be hard to treat methamphetamine-induced psychosis without also treating withdrawal following methamphetamine abuse. Many people who quit meth have symptoms like extreme fatigue, muscle pain, dehydration, and other issues best dealt with in a meth detox and treatment program. Medical detox also makes it safer for people at risk of developing psychotic symptoms during withdrawal.
CNS drugs that stimulate the brain like methamphetamine can cause severe, lasting psychotic symptoms after prolonged use. Having the right support is important when psychotic symptoms persist beyond detox and withdrawal.
You’ll find the lasting support that you need to manage psychosis symptoms at Purpose. In addition to providing immediate care when symptoms are worst, we support our clients after treatment at our facility by helping you find outpatient services, mental health treatment, and support groups in your local area.
Medical Detox
During medical detox for meth and for stimulant use disorders, you may be prescribed medication to manage the negative symptoms of withdrawal. Some medications used to treat stimulant withdrawal include bupropion, modafinil, and naltrexone. You’ll also receive 24/7 monitoring from a dedicated care provider to help with symptom management, including the prominent hallucinations associated with meth-induced psychosis.
Purpose Healing provides a safe, comfortable, and supportive environment for our clients struggling to overcome methamphetamine abuse. During this time, you’ll also be invited to participate in a program that teaches critical skills for handling triggers, relapse prevention, and management of such symptoms.
Inpatient and Outpatient Rehab Options
Purpose Healing uses a holistic, individualized approach to healing from substance use disorders. Our programs are structured, building positive habits that support change like proper nutrition, physical activity, and peer support.
Through therapy, you’ll start to understand where the desire to use meth comes from. You’ll learn coping skills for overcoming these desires, challenge negative thinking, and develop the motivation to keep you on the road to recovery.
For patients who develop psychosis as the result of an existing mental illness, you’ll also receive mental health treatment. This includes targeted therapy, medication management, and support services.
After reaching out, you’ll work with our experienced staff to shape your personalized treatment program. By building a program around your needs, long-term sobriety becomes possible.
Dual Diagnosis
Some people struggle with a primary psychotic disorder like schizophrenia in addition to addiction. Mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar, and post-traumatic stress disorder can also exist prior to methamphetamine use.
In the case of co-occurring psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders, dual diagnosis is often recommended. Dual diagnosis involves treating both addiction and underlying mental health disorders. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, this holistic approach is essential for relapse prevention.
At Purpose, we offer accredited dual diagnosis treatment across all of our inpatient and outpatient treatment offerings. By treating co-occurring disorders, our clients have the best chance of lasting recovery from methamphetamine use.
Get Help Managing Methamphetamine-Induced Psychosis at Purpose
Experiencing psychosis is terrifying. It blurs the lines between imagination and reality, leaving you unable to trust the world around you. This makes it hard to ask for help overcoming methamphetamine abuse.
If you or a loved one are struggling, it’s important to know that you are not alone.
Contact Purpose to learn more about our accredited treatment programs today and take the next steps toward a better, healthier future, today.
References
- https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/ICE%20PSYCHOSIS.pdf
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1555603
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