I know there’s the textbook definitions but I’m not sure whether they capture the whole picture or spectrum.
Have been described as having delusions and psychotic symptoms in the past . rather vaguely described as having "difficulties with perception ", but as for losing touch with reality which is the textbook definition I would say no but accept my thinking might be faulty there. Certainly the nurse practitioner sees enough to keep me on the depot.
I think sometimes the lines between neurosis and psychosis are blurred or there’ s a no man’s land that some people fall into. You are more than a standard neurotic but less than a full blown, severe psychotic.
I guess I believe in a spectrum approach rather than saying there’s a clear dividing line between mentally well and mentally ill.
I agree it’s a spectrum, there’s no clear dividing lines between being mentally well and mentally ill, although I don’t feel mentally ill right now because I’m almost symptom free, that doesn’t mean that I’m not, so there is a difference. Neurosis is a defined mental trouble.
One can argue the belief in religion is a delusion (not trying to offend anyone, it’s a just a thought I have) and it’s a mass belief, divided between massive subgroups. Or blind belief in science theories, also.
For me the actual difference is realizing we know nothing, to believing blindly anything that comes our way. But that’s accepted. People believe the earth is round for example, but it’s actually potato shaped, and there are some that believe the earth is flat still. But some of those people are mentally ill, have severe breaks with reality, and others are not, and others fall in between, like yourself.
What were your delusions, for you to be considered on psychotic spectrum?
I’ve never used it and never will. The study relies on its use to “replicate” similar neuroactivity to what occurs in natural psychosis. That’s my angle anyhoo
Thanks to the use of the ever-important emoticon, I figured you were lol I am just becoming afraid of my naivety causing problems and hyper compensating
Primarily sexual. For a long time I was very insistent that I wanted a sex change. In most cases those who are transsexual accept they are physically male if M to F but mentally feel female. With me I would entertain the thought I had feminine parts. That if I tried hard enough I could have female orgasms.
I used to look in the mirror and think my body was changing ever so slightly.
There was/is the mix of other delusions/false memories. Early on in my illness, ie first admission, thinking all my teeth had fallen out. Few years later thinking i had written a minor hit song. Neither were long lasting.
Then there was the thought that i had kept attending my senior school years after i had actually left. I would attribute that more to a false memory that crops up from time to time.
Ditto the belonging to a group of mentally ill/disabled people that went to different places together via minibus to socialise but for some reason I couldn’t go any more because I wasn’t disabled enough.
Voting in a referendum I couldn’t have done because I was on a locked ward at the time, having levitated my feet off the ground . My wife having left me for several months and then got back with me.
When I was in psychosis one of the things I said to my wife was “Isn’t it peculiar how all the things I don’t like about myself are the things that are changing”. If that wasn’t a flag capable of waving down insight, then … yeah! That’s the nature of it.
@Minnii It’s a hard one. Stress is definitely a factor, listed as a risk. Consta seems to have toned things down a notch or two but before when stressed before I would get irrational ,verbally excitable and increasingly paranoid. It was reckoned that I had difficulty explaining myself clearly when agitated,angry or frightened.
If you had seen me ranting and raving you would find it hard to associate it with the relatively calm persona I have here.
I think a few glimpses of it use to break through on the old forums for those who can remember that far back forum wise.
The consta has helped with what might be called positive symptoms ie delusion/weird/intrusive thoughts and paranoia but done little for so called negative symptoms.
A part of me does wonder why I am on the consta and what I would be like if I went off it but judging by reactions to being late for it maybe It’s seen as doing me good.
Like a lot of people who have gone through the acute stage of mental illness and are in the chronic stage social problems are very much to the fore. Isolation is a major problem and socially interacting with others is difficult. How much that is to do with mental illness and how much with aspergic like behaviour is a matter of debate. I do think it’s a combination though.
All in all whether low/medium or high functioning I am fairly stable when it comes to how I do. There are no major bouts of increased and decreased functioning. Like most here I live independently and manage the basics like shopping and finances but struggle personally with cleaning/hygiene/travel/practical-manual tasks, never worked . Compared to my sister and even my brother I live a rather restricted life.
I can relate, maybe I come off to high functioning, but I have social issues in the real world, I have hygiene issues, cleaningness, social withdrawal, social awkwardness, and a lot more.
If the consta works for you, why ruin what’s not broken, right?
Maybe you overthink this, which is okay, we all hate to be left out in the cold, especially when it comes to our mental health.
It’s hard, even with clear (or not so, but still) diagnosis I tend to not want to be on anti psychotics and for time to time to question those diagnosis.