That is an interesting idea. However I’m wondering how my diagnosis would have changed…my anxiety was my most distressing problem for the past two years. My psychotic symptoms were mostly manageable and the depression I felt was largely caused by the high amounts of anxiety I dealt with. So at that point would I have been primary anxiety disorder with secondary psychosis and depression? Though I wasn’t even diagnosed with depression initially, just anxiety and psychotic disorder NOS. More recently my depression has become way worse of an issue than my anxiety, which has somehow faded back into the background and the psychosis is once again less distressing to me than that so then would I be primary depression with secondary psychotic features? (Though that’s basically the same as psychotic major depression o.o)
My psychosis was much more prevalent and bad when I was in high school and younger. It’s honestly improved the older I get, though that may be due to insight and improved coping mechanisms.
I have found that the main difference between someone who has schizophrenia and someone who has bipolar, is that the schizophrenic will be more reserved, anti-social whereas the bipolar person tends to be more outgoing.
When I was in my hospitalization program there was only one person with a schizophrenia diagnosis. There were two other people with bipolar with psychotic features and then me with depression and psychotic features. I would say the biggest difference I noticed was how the schizophrenic guy spoke. In individual conversation he was pretty fine (though you could still tell he was a bit off) but in group he would always chime in with things that were just not even close to being on topic, and would shift what he was talking about fast. It was the first time I ever saw disorganized speech. Aside from that he was a very friendly guy. I felt bad because the other people there didn’t like him and made fun of him for how he acted in group. To me that was just ignorance.
The people with bipolar were clearheaded (though one was clearly seriously depressed) and held conversation and understood it normally. There is an underlying cognitive component in schizophrenia that isn’t as present or is not present at all in mood disorders with psychotic features. I’ve heard this from the professionals I’ve spoken to as well. Furthermore the bipolar individuals had a better level of functioning, had families and had jobs, though these things suffered whenever they had episodes. The schizophrenic guy lived with his mom and had no job. I’m not sure if he was taking his meds though because he was also clearly delusional.
I don’t necessarily agree with this. I mean, the part about the schizophrenic guy was clearly your own observation and I know from my own experiences in the hospital that sz comes in all shapes and sizes.
That being said I know bipolar people (I myself am one of them). Who also can’t function very well in society because they are absolutely crazy when they’re having an episode, and many of us don’t return to normal in between episodes. Rapid cycling for example, these people never get a break.
Also if you read about bipolar disorder and depression, there’s a fair amount of cognitive dysfunction that goes along with them too. Especially in the depressive phase. It’s almost impossible to not have cognitive impairment if you’ve experienced mania or psychosis, it’s just too taxing on the brain. I know bipolar people that can’t stay on topic and talk about the most random, rediculous stuff too. It’s hard to put people in these neat little boxes.
I was diagnosed with Bipolar I with psychosis and SZ. I suppose my symptoms are psychotic 100 percent of the time but I can function enough. My psychosis doesn’t really make me act out very often. I started experiencing psychosis when I was a kid but I had my first break at 18. Psychotic depression is my specialty, I rarely am manic.
I don’t know, Im not an MD. But if you’re asking weather or not bipolar people can make sense when they talk? in between episodes, I guess that would be a yes.
I don’t know, Im not an MD. But if you’re asking weather or not bipolar people can make sense when they talk? in between episodes, I guess. Its hard to find a bipolar person that also isn’t chronically depressed as most Bps live in the depressive phase of the illness. The literature is sketchy on the differences between cognitive symptoms in Schizophrenia vs cognitive symptoms in Bipolar vs depression. Theres a lot of overlap, memory attention span etc. Theres varying types of cognitive dysfunction also. Bipolar people can perseverate on the same ideas over and over, while schizophrenic people can’t speak intelligible sentences sometimes.
Psychosis is psychosis regardless. Generally speaking Bipolar people function better than schizophrenics. But everyone is an individual is different.
Throw meds into the mix and who doesn’t have cognitive symptoms?
Have you ever taken a mood stabilizer? They can make you forget your birthday. Atypicals, even worse. if you have social anxiety and are taking geodon you might be more impaired than someone who tolerates meds better than you do. its hard to generalize, and although I would rather have Bipolar than sz. (if I had to pick) Bipolar has a higher suicide rate.
I don’t like people that take other peoples mental inventories in the hospital though. Remember, you were just another “bozo on the bus” sitting in the same group as that schizophrenic kid. No better than anyone else in there.
