Schizophrenic, Bipolar, Did?

Many times ..though of dx'ing me schizophrenic, because I sometimes hear voices in my head. Sometimes they talk to me, sometimes they dont.

or bipolar, cuz I change happy to sad. but then they cant explain how Im a kid, or I have different beliefs, not just mood changes.



What makes DID not bipolar and Schizophrenia.

Cuz many times Ive been close to thinking I have Schizophrenia, cuz of the occasional voices when im stressed...but I dont see/hear things that arent there. I just have loud thoughts that are different voices.

help anybody know the difference?

Bipolar runs in cyles, usually repeating a pattern without any sort of trigger. My husband goes in a circle from happy to annoied or axious to angry to depressed to blank then euphoric then he repeats this cycle. Cyles can last hours, days, months..
schizophernia hallucinations are generally hearing or seeing things that are not there. My friend has this dx and he usually hears mumbling coming from objects like one time we were in his yard at night and he thought he heard a tree humming. Or he has heard water dripping from a sink that was broken. Or wispers from his closet. That's about all I know about this dx.

The short answer is if you had schizophrenia you wouldn't be asking those questions, and the voices would be outside your head. Bipolar, sever depression, no dissociation. DID, depression, anxiety, dissociation, and voices in your head.

TinyPieces wrote:Many times ..though of dx'ing me schizophrenic, because I sometimes hear voices in my head.

Hearing voices does happen in schizophrenia but most people who hear voices do not have schizophrenia.

Mental health professionals who work with clients with schizophrenia say these clients have a very characteristic quality about them. It is unmistakable, once you know it. Clients who dissociate also have a characteristic quality about them but it is an entirely different quality.

Well Ive never been diagnosed as schizophrenic, but i figured thats what they thought, t I once saw a psychiatrist that as soon as I mentioned voices he started scribbling and put me on anti-psychotics and ..I guess it made me feel like he thought I was schizophrenic or something.

eh. Thanks for clarification guys

chibixal wrote:schizophernia hallucinations are generally hearing or seeing things that are not there.

Hallucinations are hallucinations... hearing and seeing things that aren't there. Period.

Rosee wrote:The short answer is if you had schizophrenia you wouldn't be asking those questions, and the voices would be outside your head. Bipolar, sever depression, no dissociation. DID, depression, anxiety, dissociation, and voices in your head.

This is absolutely not true. DID, depression, bipolar, etc. all can hear voices of any type from any location. There is no qualitative difference in hallucinations between diagnoses. And just because somebody has a diagnosis of schizophrenia does not mean that they are floridly psychotic or out of touch with reality. So they very well might be asking these questions and more.

Una+ wrote:Hearing voices does happen in schizophrenia but most people who hear voices do not have schizophrenia.

Mental health professionals who work with clients with schizophrenia say these clients have a very characteristic quality about them. It is unmistakable, once you know it. Clients who dissociate also have a characteristic quality about them but it is an entirely different quality.

This is absolutely true. The problem is that #1 the mental health industry as a whole still refuses to acknowledge DID as a legitimate dx. So most dissociative individuals, if severe enough, get a dx of schizophrenia or severe borderline along the way. But those professionals who can step outside of the precedent and are informed about dissociation can definitely tell the difference... unless the DID patient has decompensated to a psychotic state, which can and does happen. Plus, schizophrenia is a horribly misconceptualized diagnosis and that is why it becomes so over diagnosed. Many of the experts within dissociation and psychosis have come to an agreement that symptoms such as lack of emotion, complete withdrawal, inability to communicate effectively with others, and preoccupation with delusional ideation is what differentiates so-called schizophrenia from dissociation. None of the first-rank symptoms of hallucinations, thought withdrawal or insertion, feeling "others" are controlling your thoughts and actions, etc. are different between diagnoses. The only difference in most (but not all cases) is that these symptoms are pervasive in a patient with schizophrenia while in a dissociative individual they are more intermittent (like during times of stress).

Just smiling... it's so nice to have you here Boopsy!

boopsy26 wrote:

chibixal wrote:schizophernia hallucinations are generally hearing or seeing things that are not there.

Hallucinations are hallucinations... hearing and seeing things that aren't there. Period.

Rosee wrote:The short answer is if you had schizophrenia you wouldn't be asking those questions, and the voices would be outside your head. Bipolar, sever depression, no dissociation. DID, depression, anxiety, dissociation, and voices in your head.

This is absolutely not true. DID, depression, bipolar, etc. all can hear voices of any type from any location. There is no qualitative difference in hallucinations between diagnoses. And just because somebody has a diagnosis of schizophrenia does not mean that they are floridly psychotic or out of touch with reality. So they very well might be asking these questions and more.

Una+ wrote:Hearing voices does happen in schizophrenia but most people who hear voices do not have schizophrenia.

Mental health professionals who work with clients with schizophrenia say these clients have a very characteristic quality about them. It is unmistakable, once you know it. Clients who dissociate also have a characteristic quality about them but it is an entirely different quality.

This is absolutely true. The problem is that #1 the mental health industry as a whole still refuses to acknowledge DID as a legitimate dx. So most dissociative individuals, if severe enough, get a dx of schizophrenia or severe borderline along the way. But those professionals who can step outside of the precedent and are informed about dissociation can definitely tell the difference... unless the DID patient has decompensated to a psychotic state, which can and does happen. Plus, schizophrenia is a horribly misconceptualized diagnosis and that is why it becomes so over diagnosed. Many of the experts within dissociation and psychosis have come to an agreement that symptoms such as lack of emotion, complete withdrawal, inability to communicate effectively with others, and preoccupation with delusional ideation is what differentiates so-called schizophrenia from dissociation. None of the first-rank symptoms of hallucinations, thought withdrawal or insertion, feeling "others" are controlling your thoughts and actions, etc. are different between diagnoses. The only difference in most (but not all cases) is that these symptoms are pervasive in a patient with schizophrenia while in a dissociative individual they are more intermittent (like during times of stress).

Helped sooo much thank you!

boopsy26,

You a psychiatrist or a therapist?

If you're correct then it's back to the books for me.

Rosee, I work in the field though what I do is complicated and would reveal too much.
Tylas, thanks

Here's an extremely comprehensive and excellent book on this subject:

"Psychosis, Trauma, and Dissociation: Emerging perspectives on severe psychopathology"
by Andrew Moskowitz, Ingo Shafer and Martin Dorahy

The book's not that long and breaks down to the smallest details the problems with and differences between diagnoses of DID, schizophrenia, borderline, schizotypal, complex PTSD, and religious based voice hearing. It's a great book.