I’m in therapy for depression from 3 years and I’ve heard that one common reason of ineffectiveness of antidepressants is a misdiagnosis of depression while there was a developing early psychosis. It seems to me that the symptoms overlap a lot, my mother has a chronic paranoid schizophrenia so there is a possibility that I could end with this illness.
The symptoms that concern me most are the almost total social isolation that is lasting 5 years, a distrust of other humans, a ‘feeling’ \ doubt that the others are watching me when I’m outside especially alone, or that if they are laughing the doubt that they are laughing about me. I am a very rational person so I try to ‘destroy’ these feelings but they still give me unpleasant sensations.
Ok, I do not wish to make a ranthread so I’ll now start with the questions.
Did your psychosis start with a diagnosis of depression or with symptoms of it?
What symptoms did you experience (if you did) before the emerging of the delusions\hallucinations\thought issues?
Do you think that there is a clear distinction between early psychosis and depression?
I have experienced psychotic symptoms from a very early age, as far back as I can remember. I started getting depressive symptoms years later, around 10. Despite the psychosis having come first my current diagnosis is major depression w psychotic features, so it interests me you bring it up.
Since I experienced things like hallucinations and paranoia since I was 3, (and got my first delusion at 5) I don’t know life without those things.
I think in early onset sz there is a lot of overlap in symptoms between the prodromal phase and depression to where one could be confused for the other, yes. I also believe I’ve read that it is commonly misdiagnosed because doctors just don’t really think kids get psychosis issues. (I think it’s just more difficult to recognize in kids. My parents never thought when at 5 I was scared monsters were coming to kill me and believed I was a werewolf it was because it was early signs of psychosis, they just thought I was an imaginative and fearful kid)
Mental illnesses have same factors in themselves, the only matter is about intensity of these factors, you can not say someone with ocd have not delusions or someone with depression has not paranoia, schizophrenia is the worst condition. The nature of all psychological illnesses is alike, their difference is in their intensity,
