Mother of one, 26, switched to antidepressants… and suffered such severe psychosis she thought she was a Viking princess
A mother-of-one developed a severe psychosis that left her thinking she was a Viking princess and pregnant with a royal baby after doctors switched her antidepressants.
Jade Rossiter, 26, started having vivid dreams and then started acting as if they were characters she had seen on TV.
Jade, from Farnborough, Hampshire, said: ‘I had very vivid dreams. My arm went up and banged against the wall. That would wake me up.
‘I would act as Danny Dyer or Katherine Tate. I would do as they showed on the screen.”
Jade Rossiter developed severe psychosis after switching antidepressants
Jade thought she was a Viking princess after watching the TV show Vikings (photo: Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha in Vikings)
Jade, who was trying to have a baby at the time, was also watching the TV show Vikings at the time.
She said: ‘It was scary. I thought I was a royal Viking princess and pregnant.
‘At one point I thought I had given birth. I cradled my coat and thought it was my baby.
“I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me at the time.”
Jade had recently changed her antidepressants and believes this may have caused the psychosis.
Although she didn’t realize anything was wrong, her family started noticing her symptoms.
Her father 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 to get the help she needed. She kept wanting to leave the house.’
Jade with her father Jim, who noticed her paranoia and delusions starting to develop after switching medications
Jade told how she almost died after sinking into a deep depression, losing five stone while under the Mental Health Act
Jade is doing much better now and insists that mental illness does not define you
Jade fell under the Mental Health Act for four months in January 2019 after several trips to A&E.
She said: ‘I almost died. I became catatonic – a deep, deep depression. I couldn’t move, talk or eat.
“I was a size six to eight when I went in, and went down to five stone when I was in there. It was quite traumatic.’
Jade was released from hospital in April 2019 and was diagnosed with bipolar by doctors who monitored 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 the thought of a new physiotherapist got over the bipolar and Jade was taken off her medication in November 2022 and her psychosis returned.
She soon became convinced that people were hacking her phone, listening to her calls and that she would become the next Queen of England.
She said: ‘I was happy to be away from the diagnosis, but my mental health was deteriorating. I thought there was nothing wrong with me. That was my mentality for a long time.’
Jim said, “She had paranoia. Her attitude changed. She saw criticism in every innocent comment.
“It was like walking on eggshells the whole 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 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 traumatizing.
“It was hard to come back to reality.”
A year later, Jade is doing well, still seeing a physiotherapist and taking medication. She hopes to raise awareness about psychosis and bipolar disorders.
She said: ‘If I can make other people aware by experiencing what I’ve been through – that’s important.
‘We are not alone. I’d rather talk about it, to show that it is indeed happening. You can have psychosis, but it doesn’t define you.’
Jim added, “She’s doing really well now.”