Posted by Sean on June 21, 1999, at 17:37:22
In reply to Schizophrenia or Depression???, posted by anonymous on June 21, 1999, at 17:05:17
> I looked at symptoms of schizophrenia. It scared me because I have some of those symptoms. It seems like a subtle schizophrenia could be mistaken as depression. They seem a lot similar. You don't have to hallucinate or hear voices to have it. Doctors often misdiagnose it as depression. It might explain failed treatments or bad reactions on anti-depressants. So, does anyone know? How do you separate a diagnosis of depression from a diagnosis of subtle schizophrenia?
I remember having this exact fear at one point.
I think my p-doc said if I were schizophrenic I
would not likely be worried about it! Not exactly
what I needed to hear, and perhaps not even
correct in general, but true enough for me.The most common diagnostic mistake is between
bipolar illness and schizophrenia. And then there
is depression with psychotic features and
of course schizo-affective disorder which looks
like a blend between bipolar illness and schizo.
Yikes...My personal feelings around diagnoses is that it
isn't as important as communicating clearly to
your doc what you are feeling and thinking. The
classes of diagnoses are "fuzzy" at some level
and I'm not convinced things are as clear cut
as the DSM might have the casual reader believe.What matters most is getting on with things, coming
to grips with what you feel, how scary it can be,
and making that step-by-step progress to a new
life which encompasses the difficult understanding that
your brain has some interesting things going on
which need lifelong attention.If you are having bad results, talk about it, get
your fears out there and heard. Try some new
meds, whatever it takes. This stuff is hard enough
to deal with... Best wishes.
Sean.
poster:Sean
thread:7611
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7615.html