A mother-of-one developed severe psychosis that made her think she was a Viking princess and pregnant with a royal baby after doctors switched her antidepressant medication.
Jade Rossiter, 26, started to suffer vivid dreams and then began to act as if she were characters she had seen on TV.
Jade, from Farnborough, Hampshire, said: ‘I was having really vivid dreams. My arm would go up and bang against the wall. That would wake me up.
‘I’d act out as Danny Dyer or Katherine Tate. I’d act how they were on screen.’
Jade Rossiter suffered severe psychosis after changing antidepressants
Jade thought she was a Viking princess after watching the TV show Vikings (Pictured: Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha in Vikings)
Jade, who was trying for a baby at the time, had also been watching TV show Vikings at the time.
She said: ‘It was scary. I thought I was a royal Viking princess and pregnant.
‘At some point I thought I had given birth. I was cradling my coat thinking it was my baby.
‘I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me at the time.’
Jade had recently changed her anti-depressant medication and believes that is what triggered the psychosis.
While she didn’t realise anything was wrong, her family started to notice her symptoms.
Her dad Jim Rossiter, 62, a delivery driver said: ‘She was completely out of character. She thought she was in EastEnders. She thought she was invincible.
‘It was crazy trying to get the help she needed. She kept wanting to go out the house.’
Jade with her dad Jim, who noticed her paranoia and delusions starting to develop after she switched medication
Jade told how she nearly died after sinking into a deep depression, losing five stone while sectioned under the Mental Health Act
Jade is now doing much better and insists mental illness doesn’t define you
Jade was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for four months in January 2019 after several trips to A&E.
She said: ‘I nearly died. I became catatonic — a deep, deep depression. I couldn’t move, speak or eat.
‘I was a size six to eight when I went in, and dropped to five stone when I was in there. It was quite traumatic.’
Jade came out of hospital in April 2019 and diagnosed with bipolar by doctors who had been monitoring her.
She was treated by a mental health team for the next three years and was able to recover. She had her son, now three, in March 2021.
But at some point, a new physiatrist thought had got over the bipolar and Jade was taken off her medications in November 2022 and her psychosis returned.
Soon, she became convinced that people were hacking her phone, listening to her calls and that she would be the next Queen of England.
She said: ‘I was happy to be away from the diagnosis, but my mental health spiralled. I thought there was nothing wrong with me. That was my mindset for a long time.’
Jim said: ‘She had a paranoia. Her attitude changed. She’d see criticism in any innocent comment.
‘It was like walking on egg shells all the time.’
Jade had to be sectioned again for two months in March 2023 when her psychosis returned.
She said: ‘I thought people were hacking my phone and listening in on phone calls. I thought I was going to be the next Queen of England.
‘I thought people were trying to follow me and my family. It was really scary and really traumatising.
‘It was hard to come back to reality.’
A year on, Jade is doing well and continues to see a physiatrist and takes medication. She hopes to raise awareness of psychosis and bipolar.
She said: ‘If I can bring awareness to other people by going through what I’ve been through – that’s important.
‘We’re not alone. I’d rather talk about it to show it does happen. You can have psychosis, but it doesn’t define you.’
Jim added: ‘She’s got herself in a really good place now.’
Source: Mail Online
