Schizo affective disorder is what I've..

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Ruby

Well-Known Member
#1
.. been diagnosed with.

I find it amusing really. Psychosis, I haven't got psychosis! How can somebody tell me what's reality and what isn't? I'm quite capable of doing that myself. If I hear somebody whispering and nobody else hears it.. it doesn't mean that it's not real. I go outside and I see people touching their faces to signal to eachother that I'm a mental patient. How can people tell me that's not real? It's like some form of attack.

I found out that somebody is controlling our actions and sometimes our thoughts. If you have the urge to self injure and you cant resist, its not your own thoughts. Its bad, they want you to do things until you eventually get labelled with some mental disorder. They are trying to attack us, take over completely. If you eat fattening foods then its this person trying to make you obese so that others will be able to see that youve been taken over my this outside source. When you hear that voice, note that its real.. ITS REAL. People will say otherwise because they want this label of psychosis or schizophrenia on you. Dont let that happen please.

How do we know that this is really happening? What situations were in now. Nobody knows. We could already be dead and this could all be some joke. Nobody has proof that we are really here. The blood could act as a sort of metaphor of life. Its not real..
 
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Just_visiting

Well-Known Member
#2
I cannot possibly say whether you have psychosis or not and, like u, i find it hard to believe that anyone can truly tell us what is real or not. There are alot of things in this world that could seem unreal if everybody didnt see them for themselves. And just because no body see's something or feels something for themselves doesnt mean it isnt real either.

I mean all u have to do is look at the world and see people believing in things that no one can see: ghosts, God, miracles, Magic etc... All these people aren't labelled as psychotic.

Basically i think it depends on how it effects ur life. If seeing these things is having a severe negative effect on ur life then there is obviously a problem. I am not saying that that means u r psychotic or the things u see aren't real, but that they need dealing with. If it isn't hurting u, or anyone else, then i cant really see a problem with it, even if they aren't real.

Sorry thats just a ramble. I hope it made some kind of sense.
L1
 

Bob26003

Well-Known Member
#3
Hey Ruby, I have Major Depression w Psychosis, Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

I dont get all that, voices and whatnot. But I am paranoid. I think that things will always fail and ppl are out to get me. I also think God wants me dead. :sad:

But yer right. Those voices and impulses and shit are real. I call them Demons. And they must be fought. Sometimes drugs help me to slay demons.

You should come in the chatroom some time. Would like to talk to you :smile:
 
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letdown

#5
If only doctors and people could stop telling me i'm "psychotic" and try listening for once. Listening.

At times I don't know what is real and what isn't.
The thing I always say is who knows and why are you so certain?
Or why aren't you listening? (maybe to what i'm saying and why I may be saying it)
I really dislike some psychiatric terms. I've got revolving labels of schizophrenia/bipolar depending on what doctor I see..and how they feel on the day.

I sympathise ruby. The more people dismiss what you're experiencing as "unreal" the more frightening/attacking it can be.
 

Ruby

Well-Known Member
#6
Psychotic is a polite way of saying 'madness'. Well, according to the media/society it is. ''The psychotic killer''. Grr, it gets me angry. Why don't they ever say ''The depressed killer''. Or something..
 
L

letdown

#8
"Psychosis" and depression can also go hand in hand. They aren't mutally exclusive.

People from bipolar and depression can go through "psychotic experiences." ("Psychotic depression.") The proportion of murders because of someone suffering from psychosis (and not getting their voice heard and whatever is bothering them looked at; keeping themselves safe as well as others) is also very low when looking at murders as a whole.

I wonder how many "psychotic" patients kill themselves in the end? I'm sure the number is much much higher than ones that get media attention.

I sympathise Ruby. They say psychotic killer because what is called 'psychosis' is misrepresented and not understood in the media as well as in the medical field (drug them up, don't talk to the "nutcase," don't engage with them at all etc). Well, that's my experience. I'm sure there are compassionate, openminded psychiatrists out there but they are few and far between.
 

~Nobody~

Well-Known Member
#9
Letdown, I agree with what you're saying. I think you misunderstood me completely.

I am in no way putting down people who are psychotic. I would never do that. My maternal grandfather needs to take Haloperidal daily. Give me some credit here.

I agree that the media portrays psychosis in a very unhelpful light - but I believe that's true of all mental illness. Society as a whole just isn't understanding at all. Of depression, of personality disorders, of psychosis... of any illness that isn't purely physical.

I don't really understand your reasons for putting inverted commas around the words 'psychosis' and 'psychotic'. Can you explain?
 
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letdown

#10
:biggrin: Sorry if I appeared a bit full on there. I just wanted to highlight that depression and psychosis can go together.

I put inverted commas around them because I have great great difficulty with coming to terms with how my doctors see "psychosis". I think that experiences are fully understandable if a therapist is willing to look at a person with a psychotic illness as a human being, with a past, present, with the person being in the world- rather than a diagnosis. I am extremely extremely angry at my how I've been treated by the NHS and their view of chemical imbalances and of "correcting" them. They do not listen to me. I'm not ruling out that chemical influences may be involved- but I've got most help from a therapist who listens to me and makes me feel less scared and able to live a fairly functional life by encouraging me of my view that I do have many facets of my being rather than some chemical imbalance- things that doctors just don't want to look at (trauma). That "psychotic experiences" can appear bizarre but it can be fully understandable when putting the person in context of their life experiences and their way of reacting. I dislike the connotations to the word "psychosis" as it can be a barrier towards people fully trying to understand where the person has come from and what they are trying to explain- in this way, exacerbating isolation and perhaps further quite frightening experiences. I do think "depression" is a more softer, acceptable, less "fright-inducing" word though. And I don't have a problem with that word as much.

I hope that makes sense. My grandmother was diagnosed schizophrenic too and when I hear about her life- and how she was treated (trauma related)- I see so many things that make me so angry.

Take care, Nobody. I hope you're okay :hug:
 
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Bob26003

Well-Known Member
#11
A Little Info on Psychosis :cool:

Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". Stedman's Medical Dictionary defines psychosis as "a severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning." [1]

People experiencing a psychotic episode may report hallucinations or delusional beliefs (e.g., grandiose or paranoid delusions), and may exhibit personality changes and disorganized thinking. This is often accompanied by lack of insight into the unusual or bizarre nature of their behaviour, as well as difficulty with social interaction and impairment in carrying out the activities of daily living.

A wide variety of nervous system stressors, both organic and functional, can cause a psychotic reaction. This has led Tsuang and colleagues to argue that "psychosis is the 'fever' of mental illness—a serious but nonspecific indicator".[2][3]

However, most people have unusual and reality-distorting experiences at some point in their life, without being impaired or even distressed by these experiences. For example, many people have experienced hallucinations, and some have even found inspiration or religious revelation in them.[4] As a result, it has been argued that psychosis is not fundamentally separate from normal consciousness, but rather, is on a continuum with normal consciousness.[5] In this view, people who are clinically found to be
psychotic, may simply be having particularly intense or distressing experiences (see schizotypy).

Classification

According to the DSM, psychosis can be a symptom of mental illness, but it is not a mental illness in its own right. For example, people with schizophrenia often develop psychosis, but so do people with bipolar disorder (manic depression), monopolar depression, delirium, or drug withdrawal.[8][2] People diagnosed with these conditions can also have long periods without psychosis. Conversely, psychosis can occur in people who do not have chronic mental illness (e.g. due to an adverse drug reaction or extreme stress). [9]

Psychosis should be distinguished from insanity, which is a legal term denoting that a person is not criminally responsible for his or her actions.[10]

Psychosis should be distinguished from psychopathy, a personality disorder associated with violence, lack of empathy and socially manipulative behavior.[11] Despite the fact that both are colloquially abbreviated to "psycho", psychosis bears little similarity to the core features of psychopathy, particularly with regard to violence, which rarely occurs in psychosis,[12][13] and distorted perception of reality, which rarely occurs in psychopathy.[14]

Psychosis should also be distinguished from delirium: a psychotic individual may be able to perform actions that require a high level of intellectual effort in clear consciousness, whereas a delirious individual will have impaired memory and cognitive function.

Causes

Causes of mental illness are customarily distinguished as "organic" or "functional". Organic causes are those for which a medical, pathophysiological basis can be found. Functional causes are "the rest", the psychological causes properly speaking, e.g. anxiety, depression, etc.

[edit]
"Functional" causes

Functional causes of psychosis include the following:
schizophrenia
bipolar disorder (manic depression)
severe clinical depression
severe psychosocial stress
sleep deprivation

A psychotic episode can be significantly affected by mood. For example, people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of depression may experience persecutory or self-blaming delusions or hallucinations, while people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of mania may form grandiose delusions.

Stress is known to contribute to and trigger psychotic states. A history of psychologically traumatic events, and the recent experience of a stressful event, can both contribute to the development of psychosis. Short-lived psychosis triggered by stress is known as brief reactive psychosis, and patients may spontaneously recover normal functioning within two weeks.[9] In some rare cases, individuals may remain in a state of full-blown psychosis for many years, or perhaps have attenuated psychotic symptoms (such as low intensity hallucinations) present at most times.

Sleep deprivation has been linked to psychosis.[15][16][17] However, this is not a risk for most people, who merely experience hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, i.e. unusual sensory experiences or thoughts that appear during waking or drifting off to sleep. These are normal sleep phenomena and are not considered signs of psychosis.
 

Ruby

Well-Known Member
#12
Most 'psychotic' people are more likely to harm themselves than other people. It's a fact.

I have been on risperdal, zxprexa and now seroquel. I go to 'the early intevention in psychosis team' and I still refuse to use the word, or admit that I suffer from psychosis. The stigma around it is silly. If you asked someone what psychosis was, they'd probably associate it with some form of insanity.

Anyway, I only take the medication to knock me out for 12 hours. 800mg gosh.
 

whynot

Active Member
#13
I was diagnosed with shizoaffective as well but I've never suffered from hallucinations or hearing voices. I believe it's only a blanket diagnoses given to young people when they don't match the text book pattern of being either bi-polar or schizophrenic.
 

whynot

Active Member
#14
BTW Ruby I really hope you don't think I'm being condescending or patronizing towards you. I only responded to your messages because I was also diagnosed as schizoaffective and have gone through the whole, poorly govt run medical system, to try and seek treatment, only to come out much worse in the end. I know a bit about what you're going through. I've survived some incredibly hard times such as being homeless, living in desolate poverty without treatment to finally giving myself some self respect and standing up for myself (even though I hate myself) so that I can live in better conditions despite my physical/mental ailments. Having a foothold to a better position in life greatly improves my mood so I will try my best to survive and give it my all to be better than the people who look down upon me. I would imagine if I were a multi-millionaire my psychological issues would be tertiary to all the fun shit I could do during the day. I still keep my hopes up and wish for those millions of dollars, sports cars and a fancy house upon a hill.
 
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