Is schizophrenia just a name!?

Rattatat wrote:I had come to the conclusion that you were under the impression that I am schizophrenic like angelina's 5 min diagnosis.

WTH Rattatat? I thought I was pretty straightforward about the limitations of my impression of you:

Me wrote:And I do suspect that you're delusional - at least you sound like it from what little I've read from you. I couldn't possibly know, but I wouldn't be surprised if you did have schizophrenia.

I worked hard to not come off as diagnosing you. You can't over the internet - in 5 min. or 5 hours. It's more like when you hear somebody who sounds like they have a bad cough and you wouldn't be surprised if they had bronchitis. That's all I was trying to convey.

And the only reason I even mentioned it was so you knew where I was coming from...because I was about to launch into a tirade against that incredibly #######5 NZ Mental Health Law. I certainly didn't expect you to agree with me.

If you want me to be even more restrained, you're basically asking me to have no impression of you at all, or to just not let you know about it. I could do that, but from what I've read of you didn't sound like the type of person who can't take any honesty.

I'm sure it's not the first time you've been told that your beliefs sound paranoid and/or delusional to some people. Your doctor obviously said it, and I bet other people have too. But you also know how your beliefs sound to people is a separate issue from whether they're true or not.

You asked a few posts back:

Is this delusional or is it real? ...Do these doctors KNOW that I am schizophrenic or are they simply trying to take the easy option out of this and place the problem in my brain and say that it is normal and say it happens to everyone when this crap does NOT happen to everyone.

I've thought about this for most of the last day, actually. And what I keep coming back to is wondering why some beliefs sound paranoid, "irrational" and delusional, and other beliefs don't. And if I get the impression you're thinking differently from me - exactly how do I think you're thinking differently?

I'm still thinking about it, and I'd get off on even more of a tangent if I went into it, so let me come back to the main thing.

I think, Rattatat, it would help things - not to accept that your beliefs are wrong or paranoid or delusional or schizophrenic or whatever. But to accept that they can sound paranoid. Maybe not to everybody, but to some people. Maybe that would help you not get so confused and defensive and angry with how people react to what you say.

And I think you have a lot of complicated navigation of the law and the mental health system to do, to get yourself into a better situation where you're not being forced to take medications. I think it would help you navigate things if you were kind of self-aware that "OK, my belief system sounds paranoid to these people."

Paranoid, sure. Wouldn't you be if all your friends are dead or in prison and the way you get treated for having an opinion about it all is treated as delusional and forced on drugs and treated like a criminal. I don't trust many people, like noone, and doubt I ever will. That is life.

Update: I got given the name of person in charge of this district to write 2. This isn't going to be easy so I'll be trying to do this over the next week. Thank you angelina4 for what you wrote, I think it will help me. Have my appointment with my psych early tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to it at all. Got injected today so I'm spaced right now and will be for a few more days. Will write when my mind comes back...

Just got back from my psych meeting. Grrrrr... At least I got him one when he started to explain about my brain having a chemical imbalance. I said well I want to go in for tests for it. Then he started to explain how you can't actually do any tests so I called him delusional. That felt good.

Rattatat wrote:Just got back from my psych meeting. Grrrrr... At least I got him one when he started to explain about my brain having a chemical imbalance. I said well I want to go in for tests for it. Then he started to explain how you can't actually do any tests so I called him delusional. That felt good.

Did your doc say "touche"?

Rattatat wrote:Just got back from my psych meeting. Grrrrr... At least I got him one when he started to explain about my brain having a chemical imbalance. I said well I want to go in for tests for it. Then he started to explain how you can't actually do any tests so I called him delusional. That felt good.

W00t! Good for you! Let's stop this phony, made up by drug companies "chemical imbalance" idea one psychiatrist at a time.

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about the difficulties you are going through in your country.

In the U.S., a person is not usually diagnosed as schizophrenic unless they are, at minimum, SEVERELY delusional AND hallucinating. Having only 1 delusion without any hallucinations does NOT constitute a shizophrenia diagnosis.

Of course, I hope you see that you personally could not be responsible for the deaths of those you knew -- but that is only 1 delusion that you have. Are you hearing voices in your head or seeing things that are not there? If so, then meds may help. If not, you would not be diagnosed schizophrenic in the U.S. -- maybe paranoid personality disorder or something along those lines that has delusions and no hallucinations.

You also write really well and properly string together coherent sentences -- true schizophrenics cannot do that.

I hope things get better for you. As long as you are not a danger to others or to society in general, they should not be drug-pushing to such an extent.

FormerOptimist wrote:In the U.S., a person is not usually diagnosed as schizophrenic unless they are, at minimum, SEVERELY delusional AND hallucinating. Having only 1 delusion without any hallucinations does NOT constitute a shizophrenia diagnosis.

Unfortunately, this is not true in all cases.

FormerOptimist wrote:You also write really well and properly string together coherent sentences -- true schizophrenics cannot do that.

Also not true in all cases. There are many people who have schizophrenia who hold high paying jobs. Feel free to do a google search. Schizophrenia is like any other illness. You have good days and bad days. Just because you are diagnosed with schizophrenia that doesn't mean that you instantly turn into someone who can't make coherent sentences.

You also have good cases and bad cases. I think what was meant by "true schizophrenic" is a "bad case", where you're yelling at chairs in a psych ward.

Cheze2 wrote:

Rattatat wrote:Just got back from my psych meeting. Grrrrr... At least I got him one when he started to explain about my brain having a chemical imbalance. I said well I want to go in for tests for it. Then he started to explain how you can't actually do any tests so I called him delusional. That felt good.

W00t! Good for you! Let's stop this phony, made up by drug companies "chemical imbalance" idea one psychiatrist at a time.

I believe there is some form of chemical imbalance involved in mental illness which deals mainly with dopamine and seratonin. It's the process of diagnosis and treatment that I find delusional not the 'does a chemical imbalance exist'.

A psychiatrist is no less delusional then a fortune teller....