What age were you when you got schizophrenia

I remember having symptoms as a kid - lots of panic, anxiety, depression, irrational fears, night terrors, mania etc…
My first full blown psychotic break was triggered by Hallucinogens - I must have been 20 or 21 years old, I think that it was during the second year at college

how are you feeling?

Displayed symptoms since about 14, but things only got serious for me when I had a full blown psychotic episode at the age on 17. I started hearing a voice in the middle of a chemistry lesson who first was just calling my name (I turned around and realised I was at the back of the lab, there was no one there). I had previously heard bells and chimes but this was the first time I heard a voice.

Also I had been utterly convinced people could hear my thoughts for a long time so I was obviously scared of this new development.

Doctors said it was just due to exam stress and gave me citalopram 20mg for it. Really, me, exam stress- I enjoyed exams lmao :joy::joy::joy:

I was first officially diagnosed with depression when I was 15 but had been since 13 easily (I remember my friend saying “13 year olds can’t be depressed” when I told her) and then a psychotic episode due to stress at 17. I got scared of the psychiatrist and stopped all treatment when I went to uni. After several years of up and down episodes and being terrified of demons I tried getting help for depression again (age 20) and ended up with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder but as I wasn’t getting the treatment I felt correct saw a new doctor who deemed disorganised schizophrenia.

Who cares what it’s called just please help me! Things are much better now though :slight_smile: Age 23.

Fine. How are you?

1 Like

17, had some premordal symptoms before that though.

I was 24 when severe depression hit, I got diagnosed one year later.

i’m managing, taking meds, the usual,

was at my class today and we were doing an assessment and i was finding it pretty hard but i did it,

pressure is very stressful even in small doses so i had to catch my breath a few times, could feel the anxiety levels getting higher.

anyway, you still on meds?

Yes. I’m still on meds.

That is very rare, is it not? I’m a parent of a son who is 28 and diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. I believe his prodromal stage started around 17 and then by 23 he was diagnosed as Schizoid Personality Disorder, and the psychologist who evaluated him, put in his notes that it was uncertain whether this would turn into frank schizophrenia, which it did! At 25 he had his first (and so far, only) psychotic break which landed him in a state mental hospital for a month where he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic.

How are you doing at your age with this illness? I read somewhere several years ago, if you’re not schizophrenic by the time you’re 25, then you never will be! Wow! Wrong!

My schizophrenia was triggered by the high stress environment of BCT at Fort Benning, Georgia. I had a break down and was sent home with the suggestion I seek help. I didn’t right away, I got another job, as a maintenance worker at a retail store, I had a break down again, resulting in threatening to harm my supervisor who I was having paranoid delusions about, turned out the delusions were real, he really was out to get me fired so his brother could get my job, I was arrested and given a psych eval. Six months later I applied for Disability after I was turned down for eight jobs because of my ‘violent’ past, which made me feel worse. recently I lost the state funded insurance I was receiving and can now no longer afford my meds or mental health care. My shrink considers me high risk for another break down, but I make too much money on disability to get the state insurance, but still not enough to afford the copays.