Expert perspective on psychosis ahead of World Mental Health Day

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, psychoanalytic psychotherapist Giota Efstathiou has highlighted the severe psychological suffering associated with psychosis. In a recent column, she described the condition as an unbearable internal reality where the individual experiences an intense fear of disintegration or self-shattering, often characterized by a feeling that the "end of the world" is being carried within them. According to Efstathiou, manifestations such as delusions and destructiveness can be interpreted as defensive mechanisms against this intolerable psychic state.

Efstathiou brings extensive clinical experience to this perspective as the founder and former director of the "Ariadne" hostel in Nicosia. Established in 2001, the facility was designed to serve as a bridge between the Athalassa psychiatric hospital and the broader community. The hostel aimed to provide a protected, stable environment to help rehabilitate individuals with mental health difficulties, drawing on eighteen years of her professional life dedicated to this mission of supporting people through their anxieties and psychic disorganization.