Do people who experience a psychotic episode ever go back to normal? Do people who experience a fully blown psychotic episode ever go back to their pre-psychosis self?
Short answer

Because some neuroses can involve psychotic episodes, it depends on the cause of the psychotic behaviour.

Longer Answer

When looking at the difference between neuroses and psychoses, although BPD, Bipolar Disorder and PTSD are generally neuroses, they can involve psychotic episodes in some cases.

For example, with Bipolar Disorder (Mind, 2018):


  Psychotic symptoms can include:
  
  
  delusions, such as paranoia
  hallucinations, such as hearing voices
  
  
  Not everyone with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder experiences psychosis, but some people do. It's more common during manic episodes, but can happen during depressive episodes too. These kinds of experiences can feel very real to you at the time, which may make it hard to understand other people's concerns about you.


Psychotic episodes in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can involve flashbacks (the sense of being back at the traumatic event) through hallucinations affecting touch, taste, smell, sound and sight either affecting one of the senses or a combination of them.

Once the PTSD or Bipolar Disorder has been resolved through the relevant treatment required, the psychotic effects will not return as the underlying cause has been sorted, and the person will "go back to their pre-psychosis self".

If the psychosis is a "pure" psychosis such as Schizophrenia, the problem cannot be cured, but the psychosis can be managed with medication and psychiatric help (Schizophrenia Society of Canada, n.d.).  Schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, even when symptoms have subsided (Mayo Clinic, 2018).

Minimizing the impact of the illness depends mainly on early diagnosis and, appropriate psychosocial treatment and medication.  One problem with this is that people with schizophrenia sometimes lack insight into their illness, and therefore do not see the need for medication or other mental health help. Also, medication sometimes has unpleasant side effects and this may discourage individuals from continuing to follow their prescription.

References

Mayo Clinic (2018). Schizophrenia Diagnosis &amp; Treatment[Online]Retrieved from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizophrenia/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20354449

Mind (2018). Bipolar Mood Symptoms [Online]Retrieved from: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-moods-symptoms

Schizophrenia Society of Canada (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions [Online]Retrieved from: http://www.schizophrenia.ca/faq.php