Hey Humber - Have you heard of psychosis? It's time we talk about it.

Don't think you know anyone who has experienced it? You probably have - at least 3 out of 200 people will experience psychosis this year alone (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). At Humber, that means over 800 students will experience psychosis. About 1 out of 3 people experiencing psychosis will be hospitalized (Gannon et al., 2024). 

Psychosis is when someone loses their connection with reality, which can include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking and speech. People experiencing psychosis often struggle telling the difference between what is real and what is not real (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023).

The experience of psychosis can be isolating, destabilizing and scary, but that doesn't mean the people experiencing it are people we should fear. People getting treatment for psychosis are more likely to be victims of violence, not the perpetrators (Large & Nielssen, 2011).

What can Humber do to help people experiencing psychosis?

• Create an online training to help faculty and students recognize the signs of psychosis.
  
  • Include supports students and faculty can turn to when they need support, or need help supporting someone.
• Hire an extra mental health counsellor for both Main campus and Lakeshore campus to fill gaps and meet the need of students who need support.

With the extra support from fellow students and faculty, and having more counselling support; we can create a caring environment where people get the help they need because someone noticed something was wrong and cared enough to do something about it.

Let's get Humber's attention to learn about psychosis - because the people we care about and share space with deserve to feel less alone.

References:

Gannon, L., Mullen, E., McGorry, P., & O’Donoghue, B. (2024). Prevalence and predictors of admission at the time of presentation in first episode psychosis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 59(7), 1143-1151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02552-7

Large, M. M., & Nielssen, O. (2011). Violence in first-episode psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia research, 125(2-3), 209-220.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023). Understanding psychosis. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/understanding-psychosis