Could I have Schizophrenia?

Former Member

Excuse my spelling and punctuation mistakes.

For a while I suffered from mild depression and then got quite bad anxiety which I still have. I am quite interested in mental disorders, for example, the causes and how the brain functions when people have a disorder, etc, etc.

I know that there could be 101 different things wrong with me and a lot of mental disorders do have the same symptoms but when I was reading about Schizophrenia I thought that I had a fair few symptoms. I went for an MRI a while ago and even though they were looking for something different I would of thought that they would of noticed any abnormal brain patterns?
I am seeing another councilor because I couldn't afford to keep paying out for my private one so I got one on the NHS which has finished now. I would talk to him about a lot of things and I'd pretty quite open regarding my feelings but there are a lot of things I wanted to tell him but I just couldn't. Here's a few things I did/didn't tell him.

Depression (Yes)
Anxiety (Yes)
Paranoid about what people think of me (no)
Will only eat certain things because I think they will do harm to me. (no)
Deterioration of social relationships (no)
Inability to concentrate or cope with minor problems (no)
Dropping out of activities and life in general (no)
Won't go out far from home incase something will happen to me - like a panic attack or worse (yes but help back a bit)
VERY Forgetfulness (no)
Need for acceptance (no)
Inability to express joy (no)
Refusing to touch anyone or certain things (no - like I said about the eating thing)
Always fear I have a life threatening illness (no)
Won't say certain things incase they happen (no)
Won't drive in a car incase it crashes (no)
Have these stupid habits of humming (no - had them since I was very little)
Won't take medication for fear of them doing me more harm than good (no)
BAD temper/pisses me of when I think* that people are slaging me off (no - I hide it quite well)
Generaly paranoid about things - (no)

Maybe that's to do with/was being depressed/anxiety? Do you think I should of told my doctor/councilor this? I didn't just incase he got the men in white coats to come and get me.

your views? Please, no sarcastic or unhelpful comments/suggestions

Thank you

JB

Former Member

Hi there

It is always preferrable if you are honest with your counsellor about your fears, thoughts and feelings, as the sessions will be of better help to you. However that you haven't, and that these things are still bothering you shows that they are enough of an issue for you to seek further help and information.

I would suggest that you contact your GP/ counsellor again and discuss all that you have mentioned in your post and see if it is possible to have more counselling sessions. If you don't know where to start why not print off this page and take it with you to your appointment.

Another organisation that you may wish to contact is rethink:

rethink
Working together to help everyone affected by severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, to recover a better quality of life

National advice line
Tel: 020 8974 6814 (open 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday) or e-mail advice@rethink.org

They also have a page of other organisations who offer advice and support
here

Look after yourself

Susie

Former Member

to be honest i have every symptom you listed. and i'm not schizophrenic.

all of the things you mentioned are associated with severe anxiety, maybe even a social phobia, and possibly some kind of obsessive disorder.

the fact that you are aware that your behaviour is not normal is very important, and means it's loads easier to treat you.

if i were you, i'd go see a doctor (not a counsellor, cause they are not qualified to diagnose you) and tell them, honestly, everything you are feeling. write it down if you have to. you will only get the help you need if you are honest about the symptoms that you have.

it's not a good idea to self-diagnose. i'm sure there are lots of perfectly healthy people who have some symptoms of mental illnesses. a doctor will be able to tell you what you have or don't have.

Former Member

Ok thanks both of you. .

I think I will speak to my GP altough I woll ait 2 weeks because I keep going down there so I don't know what an earth he thinks of me! He already told me I had depression/anxiety so I suppose he won't mind he speaking to him more about it. It is quite hard for me to tell him that so I might tell my counceller to tell him.

Thanks though.

Former Member

I have the symptoms that you listen, ive been diagnosed with anxiety/depression. just go and speak with your gp, my on gp got sick of seeing me but in the end they listened to what i had to say.