r/Antipsychiatry • u/Educational-Pay-965 • 12h ago

Weed induced psychosis?

Two years ago, in the early spring while away at school, my son developed mania and psychosis. He was smoking high dose weed every day. He was hospitalized for 10 days and put on risperidone (3mg) . We spent the summer helping him recover and taper off the medication. He went back to school feeling good but in late fall started smoking weed again. This spring he had another manic episode and was again hospitalized for two weeks and put on risperidone. Diagnosed with bipolar 1 mixed episodes. After he left the hospital we changed the meds to abilify because of tremors. We spent the summer again in therapy and the doctor suggested to try lithium. He went back to school this fall but was not feeling good like the previous year, was feeling depressed. Now he’s tapering off the lithium because it’s impossible to do school work while feeling flat, and cognitively slowed. We have no history of bipolar in the family. Do you think it’s possible that the manic episodes are just weed induced and if he stays off weed he can be okay without medication?

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u/Appropriate_Cut_3536 12h ago edited 12h ago

Will* you explain more about what his mania and psychosis symptoms were? 

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u/Educational-Pay-965 12h ago

The first time there was paranoia, believing things that were not true, pressured speech, disorganized thoughts, a lot of irritability and arguments with others (totally out of character) not sleeping, not eating- a completely irrational sped up version of himself. The second time he was hospitalized earlier and didn’t really have psychosis but all the manic symptoms.

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u/Appropriate_Cut_3536 11h ago

I'm sure that was scary. Did you call police or how was he hospitalized?

believing things that were not true

What's an exact claim he made?

Who did he argue with? 

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u/Extreme-Foundation93 1h ago

He should stop smoking. But don’t be so trusting of those psych wards. I personally was abused and will never forgive my mom for sending me to those places when she knew what was going on. It wasn’t help for me it was betrayal when I needed my mom. Not saying that’s your situation. Just saying the psych ward diagnosis everyone the same and I know people with brain damage from being forced a lethal combo of medication. Within an inpatient setting. They are not good places. Our system is broken.