Person walking down a sunlit path surrounded by trees at sunrise

Acute Psychotic Disorder Treatment in Long Beach, California

At Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility, we offer short-term, evidence-based acute psychotic disorder symptom stabilization treatment in Long Beach, close to Los Angeles, to help individuals 18 and older regain stability and begin the healing process.

Insurance and Payment Options

Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility accepts most major insurance providers, including Medicare and private insurance plans such as Aetna. We do not accept Medicaid. Our admissions team is available 24/7 to verify your plan’s benefits and help you take the next step. We also accept private pay.
Person writing in a notebook with a blue pen

Treatment for Acute Psychotic Disorder

Through inpatient, partial hospitalization, or intensive outpatient programs, our approach to care provides personalized care, medication stabilization, and community reintegration strategies to support long-term recovery. Our comprehensive levels of care are designed to offer stability during crises and promote lasting healing. Our on-site psychiatrists, case management, and transportation services ensure a seamless experience. We empower clients ages 18+ to manage symptoms effectively and transition smoothly back into daily life.

Getting Started Is Easy

Step 1:
Contact a
Representative

Call to speak with an Ocean View representative. Alternatively, you can visit our website to chat or contact one of our admissions team members via email.

Step 2:
Verify
Insurance

When you speak with one of our admission team members, you will answer a few questions while they verify your insurance.

Step 3:
Schedule
Admission

Once your insurance is approved, we will determine if you require acute psychiatric care and schedule your admission. 

How Our Program Differs

We know you’re different from anyone else. Because of this, we offer acute mental health care that meets your unique needs. With your input, we build partnerships with medical and behavioral health services so you can transition from us to your daily life. We do this by providing comprehensive mental health services accessible to everyone. 

  • On-Site Team of Psychiatrists: Our on-site psychiatrists provide medication stabilization, monitoring, and management. Your well-being is vital throughout your stay in our inpatient mental health crisis facility and our outpatient services. 
  • Case Management & Aftercare Support: Case management begins when you’re admitted to either our inpatient or outpatient program. Our case managers and social workers ensure you have a safe place to go, whether that’s housing or a facility, once you leave us.
  • Transportation Coordination Provided: We offer transportation services coordinated with a trusted provider that takes you to and from inpatient intake, discharge destinations, as well as transportation to/from our on-site outpatient programs. *Transportation is provided to patients within a 50-mile radius
  • Stabilization for Managing Psychiatric Symptoms: Ocean View provides 24/7 inpatient psychiatric care. We also have outpatient treatment programs.
  • Patient Resource Network: Transitioning from inpatient or outpatient treatment can be overwhelming. That’s why we have an opt-in patient follow-up option. You don’t have to manage your symptoms alone.

Understanding Acute Psychotic Disorder

Trauma and stress are underlying causes of numerous psychiatric conditions. However, in certain instances, acute stressors and traumatic events precipitate a transient psychotic episode known as an acute psychotic disorder, or brief psychotic disorder. While significant or severe stress may act as a trigger, individuals typically do not possess an underlying condition linked to mental health, illness, or medical condition at the time of onset.

The emergence of acute psychotic disorder is abrupt, with psychotic symptoms persisting for at least one day but not exceeding four weeks. Onset may occur up to two weeks following a traumatic or stressful event, or postpartum in women. The first episode of psychosis predominantly manifests during late adolescence or early adulthood, though it can also occur in individuals in their 30s or 40s.

Symptoms of Acute Psychotic Disorder

The presentation of acute psychotic disorder is abrupt and transient, bearing resemblance to positive symptoms seen in schizophrenia. Core symptoms of psychosis encompass:

  • Hallucinations: Visual hallucinations or auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices
  • Delusions: Fixed, false beliefs not grounded in reality or shared by peers
  • Disorganized speech: Incoherent language, neologisms, rapid shifts in topics, or perseveration
  • Catatonic or disorganized behavior: Motor immobility, rigidity, repetitive movements, or mutism

Acute Psychosis Evaluation and Management at Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility

Diagnosing an acute psychotic disorder is challenging. A comprehensive physical, neurological, and mental health exam is recommended. The mental health exam should focus on:

  • Mood: The patient reports emotions like happiness, anger, fear, or anxiety
  • Affect: External emotional responses, like little to no emotional response or rapid mood shifts
  • Thought process: Determining if hallucinations, delusions, thoughts of suicide, or homicide are present
  • Cognitive abilities: Evaluate memory, reason, and process thoughts

Brief Psychotic Disorder Treatment From Our Care Team

The level of your symptoms determines treatment for acute psychosis. Your primary care doctor may also refer you to Ocean View for short-term mental health services that include crisis stabilization. The first step in treatment is ensuring your safety and that of others. 
Nurse smiling with an elderly woman during a care visit

Our Levels of Care to Help Provide Relief for Your Acute Psychotic Disorder Symptoms

Inpatient Psychiatric Care

Individuals presenting with the adverse effects of psychiatric symptoms can be admitted to Ocean View’s inpatient unit. Because mental health challenges present in a variety of ways, some of the criteria for admission include:

  • Insomnia, racing thoughts, impulsivity, rapid or pressured speech
  • Abnormal bouts of euphoric energy 
  • Reckless behavior or making decisions that affect an individual’s safety or well-being 
  • Inability to provide shelter, food, and safety as a result of mental impairment
  • Helplessness, hopelessness
  • Suicidal or homicidal ideations 
  • Psychosis 
  • Self-harming behaviors
Once you’re admitted, your team will develop a treatment plan that includes aftercare planning. Your treatment plan will be evaluated daily to reflect clinical improvement and make adjustments as needed.

Personalized Care

Ocean View’s inpatient psychiatric program provides personalized, empathetic, comprehensive care. Our care team provides:
  • Licensed psychiatric care
  • 24/7 nursing and monitoring
  • 6 daily group sessions
  • Psychoeducational groups that focus on understanding mental health disorders and their symptoms
  • Therapeutic recreation to develop skills that help you find inner peace (art, painting, music, and animals/pets)
  • Coping skills development to help with symptom management and quieting negative thoughts or feelings
  • Patients are placed in groups based on the severity of their symptoms

Medication Stabilization

Antipsychotic drugs are the preferred medications for acute psychosis. These are proven to be more effective in treating positive psychosis symptoms and less effective for negative psychosis symptoms. 

The most common antipsychotics are atypical antipsychotics (second generation), for example, aripiprazole, and typical antipsychotics (first generation) medications, reviewed and prescribed based on your medical history, experience with antipsychotics, and the side effects. If you are experiencing agitation, a health professional may give you an antipsychotic with sedation properties.

Outpatient Levels of Care

Ocean View’s outpatient levels of care are based on the severity of your symptoms. Once your symptoms are evaluated, you will be admitted to either our partial hospitalization program (PHP) or intensive outpatient program (IOP). Both levels of care provide a safe, structured care that supports your symptom management.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)

Our PHP is a more structured level of care than our IOP. While here, you will engage in care that increases your coping skills and independence. The structured care includes:
  • Four support group sessions a day that meet five days a week
  • Sessions that include a psychoeducational group led by a social worker and a therapeutic recreation support session led by a recreation therapist
  • Case management
  • Snacks and lunch

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

While our IOP is a less structured level of care, we focus on providing the same secure, enjoyable, and compassionate care found in our inpatient and PHP levels of care.

However, we also include:
  • Focused coping skills
  • Community reintegration
Older woman wearing glasses and a white shirt smiling while talking on the phone indoors with sunlight coming through the window behind her.

Continued Medication Management Support With Our PHP and IOP

After your acute psychosis symptoms and medication are stabilized, you will transition to a lower level of care, and you will continue to receive medication management services. Both our PHP and IOP provide continued medication management under the care of our psychiatric team.
 

Contact Us Now

Someone from our admissions team is standing by to help you find the best treatment for your teen.
Woman sitting cross-legged on the beach meditating peacefully with eyes closed, facing the ocean under clear blue sky.

Aftercare and Opt-In Patient Follow-Up

Your aftercare plan is developed as you prepare to return to your life away from us. When you first create your treatment plan, you start planning your transition back into the real world. Our treatment team understands the importance of an individualized aftercare plan that addresses issues you face in the real world. Our personalized approach includes:
  • Case manager support
  • Outpatient transitions
  • Housing or facility placements
  • Community support referrals
Our Opt-In Patient Follow-Up (Patient Resource Network) continues to provide support and encouragement after you transition back into your life. You can remain involved in your clinical improvement with routine check-ins.

Moving Forward With Acute Psychotic Disorder Treatment in Long Beach

Contacting our admissions team is the first step in taking care of yourself. Ocean View offers you a safe place to treat and learn about your acute psychotic disorder.
Group of people sitting in a circle holding hands during a support session

Treat Your Symptoms Related to Your Acute Psychotic Disorder

Patients with symptoms of acute psychosis can be treated with the help of trained psychiatrists and antipsychotic medication. Ocean View provides the acute psychiatric care you need to stabilize your symptoms and transition back into your community.

Referral Information

Ocean View accepts referrals from healthcare providers, doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. You will be actively involved in your patient’s care and treatment, allowing you to continue their psychiatric care with you. 

Our Long Beach Location

Our specialized team is dedicated to empowering you or your loved ones to understand your mental health condition, concerns, manage symptoms effectively, and restore stability with dignity and safety. 

FAQs

What are some underlying factors of acute psychotic disorders?

While the precise cause of psychosis, like an acute psychotic episode, remains elusive, precipitating factors are frequently linked to traumatic (e.g., sexual assault, physical violence) or stressful (e.g., bereavement, natural disasters) life events. Genetic predispositions (such as family members’ history of diagnosis), environmental influences, and neurobiological abnormalities may also contribute. Potential diagnostic criteria include:

  • Symptom onset after a stressful or traumatic event is perceived as highly stressful
  • Presence of neurological irregularities
  • Familial history of psychiatric illnesses
  • Symptom emergence in the absence of a significant stressor, yet within a cultural context that deems it stressful
  • Onset within four weeks postpartum, known as postpartum psychosis
The relative rarity of diagnosis complicates a comprehensive understanding of risk factors and underlying pathology. Notably, populations experiencing considerable stress – such as those in underdeveloped regions or women – exhibit higher prevalence rates. The increased occurrence among individuals with personality or mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder, suggests possible genetic, neurobiological, or psychological contributors.

We would love to help.

Call to speak with an Ocean View representative.