My brother does not know I have schiz at all. My parents prevented me from saying anything about it to him. We have always lived under the same roof. I don’t know how that went past him. He thinks he has bipolar. Is that possible considering we have no history of mental illness in our family at all that we know of?
You know he has to go see someone and really talk to someone. No one can diagnose themselves from a web site or a book, but if he’s feeling this way and is trying to figure out what’s wrong with him and trying to make sense of his head, I’d say be supportive and encourage some help.
Maybe he’s going through some emotional swing due to stress or an onset of a physical illness or just brain changes… or a host of other things. According to some, it doesn’t take genes or family history to cause mental illness.
It might not be full blown bipolar, it could be a temporary deep mood swing due to life changes. But he will only know if he talks to a pro… Hope it works out for him. When you think you know your mind and you wake up and find you don’t know it so well after all is a hard thing to deal with… It never hurts to get some ideas from a doctor who knows exactly what bipolar is and isn’t.
Good luck and I’m rooting for you…
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Yes it is very possible - I have both! Schizoaffective is a stand alone diagnosis, but some doctors believe it to be a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar or depression. These 2 illnesses are very similar, they are starting to discover stronger similarities. You can have someone who has schizophrenia and they could have a relative with bipolar or autism - there are connections here. He needs to see a qualified psychiatrist to make sure, J is right
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Thanks @SurprisedJ - I will try to get him to see a psychiatrist. I don’t think he really has anything tbh because I know bipolar swings are extremely severe…
@Wave One psychiatrist I met also thought I had schizoaffective, bipolar type but I am not accepting that diagnosis because I only saw him once when I was not having an episode. i went to see him for a second opinion. My long term psychiatrist that I no longer see strongly believed it is paranoid schiz.
I hope it turns out to be nothing… Even if the doc can talk to him and say… hey, your exhausted and stressed but your still OK. Breathe easy.
That could be a weight off his mind and really help him feel better.
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well my sister has Bipolar II and I have Paranoid Schizophrenia. We are one bad litter. Mentally ill, both of us. There are instances of both in our family tree, so my dad basically has some unlucky nuts, to carry both disorders. My paternal family has instances of mental disorders, not my maternal family, they are all pretty straight (with a couple exceptions of alcoholism) and none of them are on psychiatric medications, but alcoholism runs on that side, which I experienced for about six months a year ago.
My alcoholism was so intense that I really dont miss it. I was a slave to alcohol and now I avoid it, but there have been a couple nights where I had several beers, but that was nothing compared to how much I used to drink, and I was not sh1tfaced, just a little tipsy.
Anyways, yeah he very well could have bipolar disorder. He needs to see a pdoc, they can figure that out in one sitting.
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