How to know if its schizophrenia or acute psychosis

Unusual Beliefs
1

well i had psychosis in 2014 august.im ok now.i had delusions,social anxiety,low flat effect. mainly-delusions of grandeur(thinking that im famous n important),persecutory delusions(people are against me-plotting against me),im not sure i heard voices. took risperidone ,after 1 year now i swtched to abilify .but theres a great deal of amotivation ,apathy,avolition etc.not sure its from illness or medication.since my pdoc is not telling me clearly i want to know whther acute psychosis also have symtoms like these .in both cases im prepared to accept my fate

2

The negative symptoms of the illness sound a lot like that, amotivation, apathy, avolition… My pdoc wasn’t clear with me either, I just have to figure out by myself. They first gave me a diagnosis of paranoid sz, now it’s schizoaffective. I have definitely a mood disorder, so they’re probably right.

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3

hi minni…what do u think is the main differnce between para.scizo and schizoaffective disorder from ur experience…i think i may have something like that

4

It’s the mood disorder, I’ve actually been more stable but I get cyclotimia and general depression.

5

Regardless of the dx, I will suggest that you stand a good chance of feeling better from doing the following:

  1. Get a copy of this book and read it and have your family read it, as well. (Torrey can be a bit totalistic and unwilling to see exceptions to his “rules” at times, but most of the book is really worth the effort to plough through.)
    http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Schizophrenia-6th-Edition-Family/dp/0062268856
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  2. Get properly diagnosed by a board-certified psychopharmacologist who specializes in the psychotic disorders. One can find them at…
    http://doctor.webmd.com/find-a-doctor/specialty/psychiatry and https://psychiatrists.psychologytoday.com/rms/
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  3. Work with that “psychiatrist” (or “p-doc”) to develop a medication formula that stabilizes their symptoms sufficiently so that they can tackle the psychotherapy that will disentangle their thinking.
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  4. The best of the psychotherapies for that currently include…
    DBT – http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm
    MBSR – http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php
    MBCT - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22340145
    ACT – https://contextualscience.org/act
    10 StEP – http://pairadocks.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-10-steps-of-emotion-processing.html
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  5. the even newer somatic psychotherapies like…
    MBBT – https://www.newharbinger.com/blog/introduction-mind-body-bridging-i-system
    SEPT – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_Experiencing
    SMPT – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensorimotor_psychotherapy
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  6. or standard CBTs, like…
    REBT – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_therapy
    Schematherapy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_Therapy
    Learned Optimism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_optimism
    Standard CBT – http://www.beckinstitute.org/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/About-CBT/252/
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  7. If you/she/he needs a professional intervention to get through treatment resistance, tell me where you live, and I will get back to you with leads to those services.
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  8. Look into the RAISE Project at https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=raise%20program%20schizophrenia.
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  9. Look for “mental illness clubhouses” in your area (which can be hugely helpful… but may also pose risks). Dig through the many articles at https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=mental%20illness%20clubhouse%20model to locate and investigate them.
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6

I don’t really understand about the not being sure you heard voices?