Most of them I was hearing things. They were almost all drug induced everything from abilify to Vicodin

Mine was a hypomanic episode. I remember waking up one day feeling mental fog, like my brain was fuzzy and the volume turned down on everything. My hearing wasn’t proper, I wasn’t processing things people said, and I felt completely detached and disassociated with my day to day activities. I was pulled over for speeding by the police, going 90 in a 70, completely unaware of how fast I was going but knowing I was the best driver on the road. When the officer gave me a ticket, I threw the ticket in the back seat and sped off without any remorse what so ever. My conscience had turned off and I momentarily thought to myself “that’s weird, normally I’d care a bit more than how I’m acting now but right now I don’t give a fuck”. I was speaking quickly according to my boyfriend. My boss at work pulled me aside and asked me if I’m doing ok because she noticed that I was incredibly impatient with the children I was working with- never had been an issue before. From every angle there were red flags telling me that something was off. When the mental fuzziness became too intolerable where it affected my awareness of reality, I decided to go see a psychiatrist. I was taking SSRI’s for a misdiagnosis of anxiety and depression. The psychiatrist properly diagnosed me with bipolar 2 disorder and said I was experiencing hypomania. It was the first time anyone had ever suggested there maybe could have been something other than depression going on with my body.

I have a psychotic disorder so yes my first psychotic episode lasted about 4 months.

Ive been having psychotic episodes the past fourish years due to bipolar and cPTSD. At first I was unaware especially when they were triggered during episodes. Started with some hallucinations then a delusion that drove me to work myself to almost death. Often I would experience it and then kind of lose the memory for a while so I could wake up one day and just not know what happened to me the week before. I gained some insight when I got on a mood stabilizer but was gaslit by doctors who told me it wasnt psychosis. I am much more aware of my psychosis as my new medicine relieves the triggers for it but time still escapes me when I cant fully prevent it. I cope with journaling the experiences so I can be aware of these episodes and know when they happen. When Im in an episode I can usually tell something isnt right as it feels my brain is in a different atmosphere.

I was hospitalized 4 for manic psychosis over over the course of 3 years. I remember each psychosis vividly. While the depression following and choase caused during those episodes were painful. The lessons I learned during them have stayed with me and I continue to apply them to this day. This was 15 years ago. My bipolar is in a state of remission. I haven’t experienced mania in 15 years. I will have bouts of depression and anxiety periodically, but they are really externally motivated. I am highly sensitive though and it is challenging for me to center myself when I encounter something upsetting.

Just coming out of one that lasted for a week. I was aware of everything that was happening. Pretty scary 😟

Yes, I was blacked out at the time, but once I was coming out of it, I felt some sort of relief. It’s as if someone was squishing my entire body and organs for the entire episode, then when I calmed down, they let go and they let me breathe