This lady is honestly still befuddled, still confused after all these years of knowing me.
10 years and counting and she still lacks the confidence in giving me a solid diagnosis.
She seems to blame all of my symptoms including my delusional type thinking down to OCD.
When I become full blown psychotic like I did 5 years ago she is uncertain, probably connecting it with mania and bipolar.
Over the years it’s always been a toss up between bipolar and schizoaffective, but lately most of the mental health professionals with certainty and confidence have diagnosed me with schizoaffective disorder.
Honestly I don’t think that my current psychiatrist has enough experience treating schizophrenic patients.
It seemed that she had a difficult time understanding my negative symptoms when I explained to her my avolition and anhedonia.
When I brought up schizoaffective, she told me that my bipolar diagnosis was not set in stone and that schizoaffective could also fit.
WTF?!?? She seems to lack confidence while my new therapist who works with SZA/SZ patients everyday displays an enormous amount of confidence in my SZA diagnosis.
Getting tired of the uncertainty surrounding my psychiatrist.
She decided to change my diagnosis from bipolar to schizoaffective but honestly I thought that my doctor had a lot of experience treating psychotic patients.
I am sadly understanding that my current psychiatrist lacks the knowledge when it comes to diagnosing psychotic patients.
I am really frustrated with her wishy washy attitude.
I am seriously considering finding a different psychiatrist.
10 years is a long time. If you feel comfortable doing so, I would talk to her about it. Maybe there is a reason she is unsure. Plus that gives you the chance to be very clear in your concerns about her experience with psychotic patients. And her the chance to address the issue before it escalates. Also makes it so she must address the issue.
The way she chooses to address it should tell you about whether or not you’d like to keep seeing her.
Additionally it is possible to have bipolar type schizoaffective. It is also possible to have this form of schizoaffective and OCD.
Does it really matter whether it’s one or the other? A diagnosis is just a name for a cluster of symptoms, and with those two diagnoses, the treatment is more or less identical.
It’s a complex thing. I would expect more consistency from one pdoc though than if you had seen 4-5 or more as a service user. I’ve gone a full cycle i.e 1975-schizophrenia to 2020- schizophrenia with other diagnoses in-between.
Fair enough. I know the feeling of not quite being on the same page as your pdoc. It’s always a little weird. I hope it resolves soon. It seems like she is a good person overall. Best of luck @Wave.
sorry to hear you losing trust with your pdoc… maybe i would talk to her about it and if you still think she can’t help you enough then maybe ask her to advice on some other pdocs that have more experience with sz/sza?