Meth usage can induce psychosis and paranoia in a person. Because of that, it’s common for people who ingested the drug to feel regrets and be afraid of their future. Some believe that they have destroyed their brain and might develop incurable schizophrenia in the future.
While methamphetamine psychosis and schizophrenia have a nuanced relationship, it’s doubtful that the psychosis in meth will develop into full-blown schizophrenia. Read along to know why that is.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia, in layman’s terms, is when a person loses touch with reality. Its common symptoms of psychosis include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, abnormal behavior, and negative symptoms.
What makes the characteristic of schizophrenia different from other forms of psychosis-based mental disorders is that the symptoms should last for more than six months.
Delusion
Delusions are strong beliefs that can’t be convinced out of the person even though there’s a lack of evidence for it. Even if the person is presented with evidence contrary to their belief, they still wouldn’t change their mind.
To be considered a delusion, the belief must not be the product of a person’s culture or religious background.
Hallucinations
Hallucinations are false sensory experiences that the person thinks are true. It’s different from illusions. Illusions are also false sensory experiences, but the person who experiences them knows they are untrue. That’s not the case with hallucinations.
Disorganized speech
A common hallmark of schizophrenia is when a person can string a series of thoughts without logical cohesion. That confuses the listener as to what the person is trying to convey.
Abnormal behavior
Abnormal behaviors include actions without a clear goal. Examples include lying down in the middle of the street or walking against the flow of traffic.
Any activities associated with a person’s unique culture or religious background are not considered abnormal.
Negative symptoms
Negative symptoms are also present in people who have the psychotic disorder. The word ‘negative’ intentionally connotates the idea that the person’s personality and expressiveness have been taken away from them.
Common symptoms include the loss of will to do things (avolition), flat or blunt affect, and reduced speech fluency.
What is Methamphetamine Addiction?
Meth addiction happens when a person has ingested the drug, and their bodies develop a dependence on it.
The initial effects of meth give the person temporary feelings of euphoria and make them feel invulnerable. However, there is an opposite effect where after the initial effects subside, the person’s mood crashes down and experiences severe depression, apathy, and hopelessness.
The person then craves another fix of meth to avoid or alleviate the negative emotions. However, that only exacerbates the adverse feelings of the next crash, which makes them want to use the drug even more.
Can Meth Addiction Cause Schizophrenia?
Methamphetamine use and addiction can’t directly cause schizophrenia. It can only contribute to the development of an already-existing – or even latent – schizophrenia.
The development of schizophrenia has a vital genetic component to it. A person with no family history of the disorder has a low chance of having it. If that same person has ingested meth, there’s also a low chance of developing the disorder. This explains why only a minority of chronic meth users have schizophrenia. That’s because only a few are vulnerable to having it.
It’s understandable why people ask this question because psychosis is present in people who use meth and people who have schizophrenia.
It’s important to understand that psychosis that’s induced by meth is a little different compared to the psychosis of schizophrenia. Even though they both have symptoms of delusion and hallucination, the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits are more significantly pronounced in schizophrenia.
In that sense, meth-induced psychosis and schizophrenia are different and warrant a different diagnosis.
Another key distinction is that meth psychosis is short-lived and usually disappears on its own without the use of medication. Antipsychotics are only administered if the person starts harming themselves or others.
On the other hand, psychosis in schizophrenia is long-lasting, and it doesn’t appear to end on its own.
How Long Does Meth Psychosis Last?
The duration of meth psychosis depends on how recently the person took their last fix. It tends to peak around 24 hours and subsides within a week. However, if meth is ingested again or on an ongoing basis, the psychosis symptoms don’t subside.
Symptoms of Meth-Induced Psychosis
Delusion
Delusions are beliefs a person holds that they can’t let go of despite the lack or the presence of contrary evidence. In the specific case of meth-induced psychosis, delusions usually manifest as persecutory, reference, grandiosity, and jealousy delusions.
- Persecutory delusion: A paranoia that the person is being hounded, followed, or interfered with
- Reference delusion: A strong belief that other people are talking about the person
- Grandiosity delusion: A strong belief that the person is of grand status, like a God or a celebrity
- Jealousy delusion: A strong suspicion that an intimate partner is cheating
Hallucination
Hallucinations are false sensory experiences. For an experience to be considered a hallucination, a person must be awake (dreams are not hallucinations) and believe that the experience is real.
That means that hallucinations are different from illusions. In illusions, the person understands the unreality of their senses, but the person experiencing hallucinations strongly believes in the reality of their false senses.
Hallucinations in meth psychosis can either be visual or auditory.
Other symptoms
Aside from delusions and hallucinations, people who recently ingested meth are also known to be violent. This aggression is usually directed at their intimate partners, harboring homicidal thoughts toward them.
The aggression can also be directed at themselves. They are also known to have suicidal thoughts and attempts.
In these cases, medications administered immediately can help them calm down.
Signs and Symptoms of Meth Addiction
Aside from delusion, hallucination, and violent behaviors, signs and symptoms can manifest physically. That includes:
- Weight loss
- Scratching and itching
- Weak immune system
- Skin sores
- Skin rashes
- Skin breakouts
- Pupil dilation
- Burns on the lips and fingers
- Rapid heart rate
- High body temperature
How to Treat Meth-Induced Hallucinations
The best primary treatment for meth-induced hallucination is to quit it altogether. That includes detoxification, eliminating addiction, and preventing relapse.
With that being said, meth-induced hallucinations usually go away without any intervention. Considering that the medications have their side effects, the best course of action is to keep the person at a safe distance and wait for the hallucinations to end.
However, there are instances where the person who ingested meth can become violent towards others and themselves. That’s where you have to call a professional, and they will administer antipsychotic and anti-anxiety medications.
A commonly administered antipsychotic medication is Quetiapine. That’s because other alternative antipsychotic drugs, such as Olanzapine and Haloperidol, make it a bit harder for people who are recovering from meth addiction to quit.
That’s because the alternatives exacerbate the withdrawal symptoms during the rehabilitation phase, making it more likely for them to relapse.
It’s important to note that the attending mental health professional in a treatment center knows this and might still administer the alternative medication. Each case is unique, and professionals use their best insight to treat their patients.
Moreover, hallucinations are often accompanied by paranoia. Because of that, the professional might also administer anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepine. This helps the person calm their paranoia down.
Meth Addiction Treatment
The first course of action is to detox the meth out of a person’s body. After that, the goal of the treatment is to help the person go through the withdrawal symptoms and keep them away from relapse.
Two promising treatment programs work great for methamphetamine addiction. They are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and contingency management (CM).
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
CBT is based on the idea that maladaptive beliefs and mental processes lead to emotional stress and behavioral problems.
For example, someone in the rehabilitation phase might experience stress from family issues. This stress can trigger a desire to escape the negative feelings, which may lead them to crave the euphoria of meth. Over time, this thought process can become ingrained.
The mental health professional’s role is to inspire change in people’s approaches to dealing with life’s challenges and alter their automatic thought patterns.
By teaching healthy coping mechanisms for managing family problems without resorting to meth, the therapist can help the individual reshape their thought processes and foster more adaptive behaviors.
Contingency management
Another effective way of helping a recovering person through withdrawal and preventing relapse is to reward their abstinence from meth. The clinic might have allocated a budget to give out food vouchers for people who present evidence that they’re free from meth, usually done through drug tests.
Other Dangers of Meth Use
Meth use also poses physical concerns. Weight loss and malnutrition are some of the most apparent symptoms of drug use. Aside from that, the method of ingesting meth can also pose problems. They include:
Intranasal
- Sinusitis
- Irritation
- Bleeding of the nasal mucosa
Smokers
- Coughing
- Bronchitis
- Pneumonitis
Injectors
Aside from puncture marks, the person is also at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). That’s because STDs can also be transferred through the syringe that’s being shared with a group that uses crystal meth.
Other Co-Occurring Mental Health Disorders
Usually, people who abuse meth also do other drug abuse. That can include:
- Substance use disorder
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
For people who have schizophrenia, other mental health concerns might be present, such as:
- Anxiety disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Schizotypal: A disorder that precedes schizophrenia. A distinct feature of this disorder is that people who have it are usually isolated, eccentric, show signs of magical thinking, and are highly suspicious of others. Because of this, they have a hard time forming healthy connections with other people.
Break Free from Meth Addiction and Schizophrenia at Luxe Recovery
Psychosis may be frightening for people who have experienced it. While you can be reassured that the development of schizophrenia through meth usage is unlikely, there are still severe other health concerns related to it. Luxe Recovery helps people calm their psychotic breaks and be free from substance abuse.
Call us now to find out more about how we can help.
