Annual Pub 2023 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 36
K I R K K E R K O R I A N S C H O O L O F M E D I C I N E AT U N LV
PROVIDING HELP
AT A CRITICAL TIME
BY ROBIN BIFFINGER
ou start hearing voices. Suddenly, you’re seeing,
tasting, and feeling things that no one else is
experiencing. You can’t get rid of these persistent
strange thoughts. You’re not making sense to others
when speaking and you can’t focus. Your global
functioning has deteriorated to the point that work, school, and
relationships have become di٠恩cult or impossible to maintain and
it feels that everything has unraveled.
Y
It’s hard to imagine the fear and confusion that grips someone
when they are experiencing their first episode of psychosis.
Fortunately, there is an excellent team in place at UNLV Health
Mojave Counseling to help these individuals try to get back to the life
they had before this episode. They are the staff of the 昀rst episode
psychosis (FEP) program.
David Stoebling, LCSW, FEP program director, says that it’s at
this 昀rst episode when someone9s life really starts to change and
becomes increasingly di٠恩cult. That9s where the FEP program can
step in and make a difference.
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“Psychosis refers to a set of symptoms that are associated with a
psychotic disorder,” says Stoebling. “Symptoms of psychosis refer
to hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thought, disorganized
speech, disorganized behavior, and negative psychotic features.”
Psychosis often begins when a person is in his or her late teens to
mid-20s. There are about 100,000 new cases of psychosis each
year in the U.S. Nevada averages a little more than 300 昀rst episode
cases every year, split between Northern and Southern Nevada in
the cities with the highest populations (Las Vegas, Reno/Sparks,
and Carson City).
The causes of psychotic disorders are suspected to be attributed
to genetics and environmental factors. Individuals who experience
psychosis may have family histories of psychosis or other mental
health issues. An individual predisposed to psychosis may
experience a psychotic episode in their lifetime after experiencing
an environmental stressor (large or small) such as a break-up, losing
a job, failing an exam, using drugs or alcohol, just about anything.
