If you're curious as to your diagnosis, it might be helpful to ask your psychiatrist outright. You're perfectly entitled to. What I have noticed is that, generally, people under Early Intervention teams (not sure if you are?) don't get diagnosed with conditions like schizophrenia/schizoaffective whilst they are under the care of that team. They prefer not to label people in that way, though I'm not sure why. This might not be the case universally, though.
As someone has said, psychotic episodes are not necessarily indicative of something like schizophrenia. They can happen for various reasons in various people, and symptoms are also sometimes found in people with disorders like bipolar, severe depression, complex PTSD or some personality disorders, to name a few!
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 19. The assessing psychiatrist (who assessed me over a period of 6 hours, three appointments) claimed that she was over 95% sure I had the diagnosis and that she felt it was early onset since my mid-teens. There was a huge disagreement between her and my psychotherapist (who felt I had something more akin to a personality disorder) and it really, really messed up the treatment options that had been planned for me for some time.
In the end, I was assessed by another psychiatrist, who felt I had BPD with a co-existing psychotic illness (he mentioned a delusional disorder) - which was disagreed with by a third psychiatrist who thought it was all down to BPD.
Seven years later, my diagnosis is BPD plus psychosis, but it's kind of a sketchy one because my current psychiatrist said many people simply don't fit into a box. Because we're all unique; we're all human, with different pasts and different genetic make-ups. What matters is finding the right treatment to help you live a meaningful life.
And, as usual, I've completely rambled and would like to reiterate what I said first about asking your psychiatrist if you feel comfortable!
|