Raising psychosis awareness

by Zerah Lurie / The Ubssey

A new series of posters are making their appearance on campus, featuring fictitious sufferers of psychoses. These posters are part of an effort by the Early Psychosis Initiative (EPI) of British Columbia to raise awareness about psychosis around UBC.

Psychosis means loss of contact with reality and is related to a number of mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Psychosis generally first appears between the ages of 13 to 30, but the average age of onset is 17 to 24 the age group containing the majority of university students. The EPI wants people to know that psychosis can affect anyone; three out of every 100 people experience psychosis in their lifetime.

According to Dr David Irwin, medical director of the EPI, the goal of the initiative is to create awareness among both doctors and the general public about psychosis. Typically, psychosis sufferers aren't treated until years after symptoms first appear. EPI's goal is to diagnose and treat psychosis suffers as early as possible. The earlier a patient is treated, the better their chances of recovery.

"Most people aren't aware of what to look out for in terms of early psychosis," says Irwin. "Early on, the signs like aggressive behaviour are fairly rare. Those kinds of things typically aren't cropping up until the person has been unwell for some time."

"The things that we're really looking out for in terms of psychosis showing itself [early on] are more subtle things," said Irwin, "like a person starting to have trouble with school or work, with friendships, people having trouble with sleep or appetite...particularly if [these signs are] lasting for days or weeks at a time." Irwin cautions that psychosis symptoms can actually be quite subtle.

Despite the provincial health cuts, the EPI has survived and hopes to flourish because of its focus on prevention and cutting costs.

"One of the biggest health care costs is inpatient treatment," said Irwin. "It's enormously expensive compared to any other kind of treatment and it's well-proven I would say that this kind of early intervention approach dramatically reduces the need for hospitalisation."

The awareness campaign at UBC hopes to connect with an audience that can be difficult to reach. Irwin explained that the target group is generally independent, and not always being looked after by their parents or a partner.

The EPI is also focusing on an awareness campaign at UBC because of the role stress plays in psychosis. Stress does not cause these conditions but it can mask their existence, said Irwin.

"And let's face it, going to college or university is a stressful period for almost everybody," Irwin added.

"We're trying to raise awareness in the community as to what [psychosis] is, that it's very treatable, that it doesn't have to get really bad in order to get treatment and that people will do much better if they can get help earlier," said Miriam Cohen, a registered nurse who helps coordinate the EPI and who works on the EPI's help line.

Christina Yee, a third-year political science student who is putting up posters on campus for the campaign, feels that psychosis is a serious issue for people in university.

"It is something that can come out of nowhere and it's just good to be aware that there is this early intervention program out there," she added.

The EPI program has set up a website, www.hopevancouver.com, with answers and information about psychosis. Those with questions regarding psychosis, or who know someone who needs help or referral to these programs, can call the EPI help line at (604) 822-9732.