For those with schizophrenia or scizoaffective disorder
Was your psychiatrist wary of giving you a diagnosis? My psych is saying I'm having psychotic episodes and I'm on meds for it but they haven't specifically said it? Can anyone share their experience with the diagnosis process?
Thanks xx
i think it took me about 8 months to find out i'd been diagnosd with paranoid schizophrenia. i don't think they deliberately held the information back, they just said they assumed i knew because i was on clozapine which is for treatment resistant schizophrenia. that was a year and a half ago. the diagnosis wasn't made until i was 21 but i had problems with voices etc for 8 years before that.
they suspected I had schizophrenia and i went through diagnostic testing etc. years before i actually got the diagnosis paranoid schizophrenia. They said because of my age and even though i showed a lot of symptoms they wouldnt diagnose me yet. i was diagnosed with paranoid psychosis instead and then 2 years later i went through the diagnostic testing again during a hospital stay and i was officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. so yes, they were very wary of giving me the diagnosis in case i was misdiagnosed.
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I've schizoaffective disorder. I was diagnosed after three hospital admissions over about two years, so lots of observation combined with outpatient appointments in the community. I've had further admissions, but the diagnosis has stuck. They didn't tell me about my diagnosis for a long time; I found out when a doctor blurted it out during a mental healt act assessment. Not ideal...
“Our defeats are softened and our victories are sweetened because we did it together.” - Toby Ziegler.
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!
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 14/15. I was vaguely aware of it at the time, and only realised that I was diagnosed with treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia this year after peering at my GP's computer screen!
Even though I did lose the diagnosis at 18.
At the time I wasn't really aware of the diagnosis apart from passing comments from my mum or the nurses. No one actually told me.
As said above, it's best to ask your psych outright.
I'm fine! Totally fine. I don't know why it's coming out all loud and squeaky, 'cause really, I'm fine!
I was diagnosed bipolar originally then bipolar with psychosis, then schizoaffective and now, depending on what dr I see it goes between bipolar with psychosis and schizoaffective. The whole process has taken about 8 years and it's still ongoing.
Sometimes it takes a long time to get the right diagnosis the main thing is that you get the right treatment. X
The average,
well-adjusted adult
gets up at 7.30am feeling just plain terrible.
Call me Kate.
I have dyslexia so please excuse my poor spelling and sometimes poor understanding.
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!
This is a really good post.
The average,
well-adjusted adult
gets up at 7.30am feeling just plain terrible.
Call me Kate.
I have dyslexia so please excuse my poor spelling and sometimes poor understanding.
