Understanding Common Psychotic Symptoms and Their Key Descriptions

Psychotic Symptoms

Symptom	Description
Hearing or seeing things that aren’t there	Voices commenting, whispering, or full conversations when nobody’s around. Sometimes sounds, shadows, or flashes of something that nobody else can see.
Strong beliefs that don’t match reality	Paranoia (like believing people are out to get you) or feeling like you’re getting secret messages from the TV or internet. These beliefs feel completely real to the person, even if they seem unusual from the outside.
Thoughts that jump or don’t quite connect	Conversations can be hard to follow, like jumping between ideas or using words in ways that don’t quite make sense to others.
Unusual behaviour or emotional reactions	Someone might become really withdrawn, overly energetic, suspicious, or express emotions that don’t quite fit the situation.

It's important to remember that psychotic symptoms don’t define a person and can happen as part of different mental health conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or even extreme stress. They’re also treatable and not as uncommon as people think.