I'm trying to understand DSM diagnosis

I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and now I’m diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. My current pdoc thinks that maybe I don’t even have Schizoaffective Disorder. He asked if I had one major symptom for more than 6 months, and the answer is no. I had dellusions for around 2-3 months (I remember the first time I had paranoia I was in college and I was hospitalized while studying at college) and I had disorganized speech for less than 1 month I guess (I checked the spelling of the emails I sent before hospitalization and they were okay, but, from what I remember, around 2 weeks before hospitalization, my speech was not so much, but still messed up).

Maybe that’s why I’m high functioning, because maybe I don’t even have Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder.

I had negative symptoms just after taking antipsychotics and what happened was probably Neuroleptic-Induced Deficit Syndrome (NIDS). It means my “negative symptoms” were caused by antipsychotics, an not by the illness itself. I’m on a reduced dose of antipsychotic (7,5 mg of aripiprazole) and all my negative symptoms are practically gone.

Since 2015 (the first time I was hospitalized), I don’t have dellusions neither psychosis.

I don’t understand completely about diagnosis protocols, but I think I don’t have sz neither sza. I probably have Bipolar (which was my diagnosis before my psychosis).

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Bipolar can cause psychosis, not just sz and sza. Maybe you’re right.

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Yeah, I heard about it. There are even Bipolars with negative symptoms.

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I just found out I might just have complex ptsd. It was a therapist and not a dr who told me that but still.

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I admit that sometimes I want to sue the psychiatric hospital if my diagnosis is really wrong, but I want to move on. I don’t know if ressentments can play a big role in my life.

It’d be a stressful endeavor for sure. Judges always side with the drs anyway so you would have quite the uphill battle.

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I think so too. It’s sad things work this way…

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You should also look into schizophreniform disorder. It’s like a short term schizophrenia.

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Where did you find this?
Do you have proof of this?

I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder and I also suffer with non depression negative symptoms.

I believe it’s possible.

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Look for Neuroleptic-Induced Deficit Syndrom (NIDS). It can happen with people diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, then the pdoc thinks it’s Schizophrenia and, in fact, it’s Bipolar.

There are other studies like this one:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-12201-001

Thanks @DelusionalSoldier!

I really dont know what im talking about here, but i read the dsm 4 a couple months before my first episode. A while back i skimmed over parts of the dsm 5. I would say the dsm 5 is more clear. Going off memory, i remember not being diagnosed to that protocol, however i do know that a change has happened sometime in the last decade where doctors give out diagnosis’s sooner so that the individual can get on meds and have better support (including benefits if necessary).

If a psychiatrist thinks you have schizoprenia or sza that can change with time. In the end it doesnt really matter if you have bipolar or sz or sza or aspergers or whatever, the thing that matters is that the medication helps.

Psychiatry is still an infant and in 50 years with better technology/other factors perhaps sz/sza will be broken up into a few different illnesses/more specific labels.

idk if this helps at all, im just going off memory of what ive read and what professionals have told me.

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It makes sense. The diagnosis works to help doctors. But here Brazil it’s important to know which diagnosis I have. I can’t lie to the government, so when I get my driver license, I have to say which diagnosis I have and if I have any disability. And if employers ask about my disabilities, I have to say what I have.

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Took a look at it, but I don’t know how to differentiate it from bipolar with psychotic features.

I’ll throw into the mix that one may not necessarily be a good judge of when and how long one was psychotic.

in bipolar the focus is on mania and depression so there are more mood symptom and the psychosis occurs during these episodes.

In schizophreniform disorder the focus is on schizo symptoms like delusions, hallucinations. disorganized speech and negatives symptoms. There may be mood symptoms but there may not be also.

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Schizophreniform is a temporary diagnosis, not a permanent one. It simply is schizophrenia or schizoaffective, but it’s the interim diagnosis (Schizophrenia requires 6 months of symptoms to diagnose). So if symptoms pass with medication or without, the diagnosis goes away. You’re not schizophreniform long term. After 6 months of schizophrenia symptoms, schizophrenia is the official diagnosis.

Bipolar, on the other hand, the psychotic features only occur during mood episodes. Schizoaffective you have schizophrenia symptoms without mood symptoms.

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Thank you! There’s a huge possibility that my diagnosis is wrong due to a neuroleptic syndrome. Anyway, I have to recover.

In Greece my psychiatrist uses the ICD codes. He used to write F20.3 undifferentiated schizophrenia, now he puts F20 without subtype, but I fill the gap F20.0 paranoid because it’s the most common subtype, it has later onset, and has no prominent flat affect etc

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