I saw my psychiatrist yesterday and questioned her about my diagnosis.
She basically told me that either Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar type or Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features would fit me.
She seemed comfortable with both diagnoses for me - Schizoaffective and Bipolar.
She didn’t lean towards one particular DX over another.
She said that she deals with individual symptoms and not diagnoses.
She also told me that OCD was a big component of my Bipolar Disorder like Symptoms.
I asked her if people with OCD can become Psychotic and she said Yes!
It really seems like I have two different primary diagnoses from my psychiatrist.
I also tend to believe that lumping people under a DSM diagnosis is not always the best approach. Here’s hoping that DSM 6 will better address the boundaries between illnesses based on genetic markers. This would also mean that targeted treatments will become a reality sooner than later.
Even with myself they’ve changed from psychotic depression to bipolar with psychosis to schizo affective to schizophrenia with obsessive features and back and forth. I was told they change based on how your symptoms present at the time of treatment. I agree with others that the label itself has very little meaning but it does help as a reference point to research your illness in an effort to feel better or at least to understand it a bit more.
SzA and BP-Psychotic can be easily confused, which is why she doesn’t want to give you a firm dx just yet. The symptoms are exactly the same, it’s just a matter of the timing of the symptoms.
To be honest I think that she is leaning a bit towards the Bipolar aspect of my illness.
She told me that when I lose my mind and get delusional, I don’t veer off too far away from reality like some patients with Schizophrenia can be when Psychotic. (Her Words not mine)
She also feels that my OCD is a big part of my illness.
My pdoc said that I would be considered high functioning if it weren’t for my OCD symptoms.
She feels that I am somewhere in the middle as far as my functioning levels are considered.
She also said that OCD can present itself with Psychotic symptoms at times.
Turtle is wrong though, your dx determines your treatment. Bipolar psychosis is different than SzA psychosis. There are different drugs used. For example if you have SzA, Invega is the ONLY drug FDA approved to treat SzA.
Invega is not the only AP that can effectively treat SZA.
The same MEDS that treat Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar type are the same MEDS that treat Bipolar Disorder Type 1 with Psychotic Features.
No difference.
Invega is FDA approved to treat SZA but it’s mainly a marketing ploy.
My therapist said she prefers depression with psychotic features for me because I am “too rational” to be schizophrenic. (She said something like people with sz can’t think critically about their illness like I can, but I’ve definitely met some very thoughtful people on here…) She doesn’t like talking about my diagnosis though and I had to really prod at her just to get her to tell me.
i tried invega both the pills and the injections and it didn’t help me very much.i was on 234 mgs of injection every three weeks and 18 mgs of pills every day and it didn’t help. one doctor told me i had a minor problem with DID and left it at that didn’t say what to do about it.
I got my file out once and is like ten different diagnosis. They can only diagnosis on what they see in you at the time of seeing you. Main thing is the meds are working. Try not to worry over it too much. Meds and talking therapy do go hand in hand. Are MRI scans that the brain does repair itself with meds and talking therapy so should be your main concern of finding both a good pdoc and a good tdoc.
I started off with a Bipolar DX, then I was SZ and now it is Delusional Disorder. Same drugs though. I don’t think it affects my therapy either. I think I am either high functioning SZ with no negative SX or I am Delusional Disorder. It’s, apparently, a rough business DX people.
