What is Meth Psychosis? Symptoms and Treatment.

About 40% of heavy meth users develop psychosis. So, let's talk about how meth affects your brain, as well as how to treat meth addiction.
Methamphetamine is commonly referred to as meth. Other street names include ice, crystal, speed, crank, shards, and crystal meth. Meth is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant. It is relatively cheap and widespread because it is pretty easy to manufacture.
So, how does meth affect your brain? This is quite complex, and at the center of this process lies a brain chemical called DOPAMINE. Your brain has many receptors called dopamine receptors. Meth damages these receptors, affecting dopamine levels in some regions of your brain.
Dopamine helps with motivation as well as reinforcement of rewarding behaviors. The disruption in dopamine from using meth can, therefore, corrupt the messages sent to different parts of your brain. This can affect decision-making, learning, behaviors, and the reward system. High levels of dopamine in reward areas of the brain strongly reinforce drug-seeking behaviors. Damage to the brain also manifests as compulsivity and impulsivity. This is one reason we see risky behaviors in heavy meth users.
According to a study done on animals, sex causes dopamine levels to increase from 100 to 200 units, and cocaine causes a spike to 350 units. Meth, however, causes an increase to about 1,250 units, about 12 times as much as obtainable from food, sex, and other pleasurable activities.
Apart from dopamine, studies also show changes in other brain chemicals like serotonin, glutamate, and GABA.
Meth is so addictive that it can be instantly habit-forming. A few years ago, I met with Alex - not his real name. He came in with his wife for help as he was not doing well. Alex was 42 years old but could have passed for his wife's father! He looked like he was in his late 60s! He had also lost several teeth, and what was left of his dentition appeared severely damaged. Alex was also experiencing psychosis, which had gotten his family members very concerned.
Unfortunately, psychosis is one of the symptoms you may experience with meth use. So what is meth psychosis? The correct terminology is Methamphetamine-Induced Psychotic Disorder. Psychosis refers to a loss of reality due to severe impairment in thoughts and emotions. It can also occur in other mental disorders like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, bipolar disorder, and severe cases of depression.
Psychosis results in hallucinations, delusions, or both.
Hallucinations are sensory experiences that appear real but are created by your mind. It can affect all five senses, which means you may have visual hallucinations - seeing things that are not real; auditory hallucinations - hearing voices; tactile hallucinations - such as a feeling of bugs crawling on your skin - this is common in cocaine abuse; olfactory hallucinations - experiencing non-existent smells; or gustatory hallucinations - presenting as weird tastes in your mouth.
Delusions, on the other hand, are fixed false beliefs that conflict with reality. They are firmly held despite proof and evidence that this is not the case and, despite the fact that members of the culture do not share the belief. There are different types of delusions. Persecutory delusions are the most common. This type causes a person to believe that someone or something is out to get them. It is an extreme form of paranoia. Another type of delusion is Grandiose delusions. This type causes people to have an exaggerated feeling of superiority, power, influence, or self-worth. Other types of delusions include delusions of control, delusions of reference, delusions of poverty, delusions of self-accusations, and delusions of infidelity, sometimes called pathological jealousy. Some people may also experience delusions centered around religion. This can cause them to exhibit hyper-religiosity and believe they have god-like powers.
Psychosis can be very frightening and distressing.
So, this brings me to treatment. How is meth psychosis treated? Most cases of meth psychosis are usually short and last less than two weeks after the last dose of meth. Even though short-lived, such psychotic breaks can be devastating to the individual. In some cases, meth psychosis can last for months or even years. Some reports show that about 5-15% of methamphetamine-induced psychosis fail to recover completely.
The treatment for meth psychosis involves a comprehensive approach. The first step, of course, is to stop using meth. Getting detox in a rehab or residential treatment facility may be helpful. In some cases, psychosis from meth use is transient, which means it goes away after a few days or weeks, even without medications. Treatment of psychosis involves antipsychotic medications. Examples of such medications are risperidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, aripiprazole, and cariprazine.