What is psychotic depression?

Psychotic depression is a severe stage in depression in which the effected shows the common depressive symptoms along with mental illness or irrational behavior or psychosis. Even though, this form of depression is not very common seen when compared to non-melancholic or melancholic depression, its badness and severity can be recognized by the actuality that 25% of the psychotic depressive patients are hospitalized for some kind of illness that related to depression. Psychotic depression is very dangerous mental disease which sometimes leads to suicidal tendencies.

The exact cause of psychotic depression is not very clear but it assumed that it may be caused of too much production of cortical hormone at some stage in the periods of stress or abnormal functioning of thyroid. It’s also assumed that psychotic depression is a hereditary disease. But scientifically it is proved that production of high level of cortisol hormone in the blood may lead to depression and later to psychotic depression.
A person having psychotic depression may experience some kind of anxiety and mental distress and also chronic sleeplessness, repeated frightening dreams, physical immobility and phobia. Hospitalization is a must to treat patients suffering from psychotic depression. Close and regular supervision of mental health professionals or experts will helps in speedy recovery to the psychotic depressive patients.