People tend to imitate each other when they are physically and emotionally close. This influence can be quite harmless, for example, when it comes to musical preferences or the way the dishwasher is loaded. However, if we are talking about psychosis, then involuntary imitation can lead to disastrous consequences. In rare cases, experts observe a phenomenon called "madness for two" in the scientific world. This potentially destructive condition is nothing more than a general psychosis.
Can you get psychosis?
Mental personality disorder cannot be compared to an airborne illness. It is unlikely that you will catch depression or ADHD from your friend. But if we consider psychosis, then the situation is different. According to the forensic psychiatrist Andrey Kulik, who is directly involved in Chicago, this disorder can sometimes be transmitted.
The disease has a variety of manifestations
Promotional video:
It is customary to understand psychosis as the inability to adequately perceive the world around us, as well as the lack of an appropriate response to things. From the point of view of medicine, psychoses have a variety of manifestations, they can be a symptom of another disease (senile dementia, schizophrenia) or an independent illness. People suffering from psychosis live as if in a distorted reality. They see things that are inaccessible to others (“delirium tremens”), and hear voices that others cannot hear. They cannot correctly assess which of what they saw and heard is true, and which is the result of their sick imagination.
Symptoms prior to psychosis
An individual form of psychosis at some point in life affects three out of every hundred people living on Earth. In the United States of America alone, 100,000 cases are reported each year among young people. This mental illness has warning signs in the form of anxiety in crowded places, difficulty concentrating, loss of energy, lack of emotion, and increased levels of isolation.
Active form of the disease
If these signs are ignored, and a person does not receive qualified help, a transformation of a passive form of psychosis into an active one occurs. At the next stage, new, more serious symptoms appear, accompanied by mania. Individuals prone to this mental disorder are subject to irrational beliefs (for example, the realization that someone from the outside is controlling your thoughts) and hallucinations.
General psychosis is a rare occurrence
If we talk about general psychosis, then we have an even more unusual and rare form of the disorder. One of the survey research studies had access to the complete database information from 1993 to 2005. After examining medical records for the reporting period, scientists found only 42 cases. Here is what J. Marsden, assistant professor of psychology and social services at Beacon International College, says: “Generalized psychosis is rare, but when it does, we see a strong emotional connection between people. One partner's delusional beliefs are the starting point for forming another person's equally delusional beliefs. If this pair is disconnected, then one of them will not meet the diagnostic criteria for the disorder."
Risk factors
The mechanism that triggers general psychosis may or may not be influenced by a number of risk factors. Licensed psychologist Dr. Wyatt Fisher notes that any mental illness is caused by genetic predisposition combined with environmental stress. The patients experienced some kind of triggering events that set this subtle mechanism into action. This could be job loss, serious health problems, or financial hardship. For example, if the spouse of a man with psychosis has a hereditary predisposition to mental illness, and if she is regularly stressed, the illness can be transmitted to her. Another decisive factor in the "infection" is strong emotional attachment (can occur not only in romantic partners, but also in twins, as well as in mother and child).
Conditions for disease transmission
After analyzing the data obtained, the scientists came to the conclusion that couples of persons living separately, having a language barrier or other cultural problems are more susceptible to general psychosis. As the most telling example, experts cite the case of the Gibbons twins, two black girls who lived in Wales. They were harassed and bullied by white peers at school and preferred not to communicate with anyone. In the end, the sisters set fire to the educational institution, for which they were sent to a clinic for the mentally ill. Very soon one of the girls tragically dies. Her sister, having got rid of the psychological influence, was later able to live a normal life. Curiously, in Western cultures, spouses or brothers and sisters are more likely to suffer from general psychosis. But in Japan, a similar phenomenon often affects mother and child.
Another significant case
People suffering from this ailment are not going to admit that there is a problem, and this can lead to serious damage to the well-being of others. General psychosis has become widely known for the story of spouses Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzi. In 2002, a man kidnapped Elizabeth Smart and was even going to make the girl his second wife. He considered himself a prophet and claimed that he could communicate with angels. His wife at some point accepted this nonsense.
Finally
Any type of psychosis significantly undermines the well-being of people. They cannot hold onto their jobs or maintain important relationships. That is why it is so important for these people to feel the support of a loved one and seek qualified help in time.
Inga Kaisina
