My first symptoms were anxiety especially social anxiety.
For me anxiety and paranoia are intimately linked. I think some doctors think paranoia leads to anxiety but for me the opposite is also true.
For me I would tend to agree with that. Separating paranoia from social anxiety is personally very difficult. Certainly anxiety can lead me to have irrational thoughts.
I had severe anxiety especially social anxiety 10 years before the sz.
I agree @anon20613941 anxiety causes paranoia for me too
I have lots of anxiety…
Can APs (esp. high dose) not cause anxiety?
I am on 4mg rispredal …but i have lot of anxiety…what med are u on @GentleSoul …u can pm me man…where is ur crisper now…
IN other words stress is a factor in developing sz. Isn’t this old news?
Deficit schizophrenia which I suffer from presents itself quite differently. While sensitivity to stress, especially in social situations, is strong during the prodromal period, it is not linearily associated with an increased anxiety. During psychosis there is an exacerbation of anxiety, but again at lower levels than what would normally be called an “anxiety attack”. Finally, in the residual phase, anxiety and stress sensitivity are completely obliterated and negative symptoms take their place.
Maybe that is one of the reasons while the Maryland psychiatric school of thought sees deficit schizophrenia as a separate entity, not on a continuum with other disorders of the general schizophrenia spectrum.
Medication helps to some extent , but for me aversive stimuli /stressful situations can lead to increased anxiety,irrationality and paranoia . For want of a better word there can be a degree of ‘disintegration’ . Stress is noted as one of my risk factors.
A good question . With regards to the Consta I am on I would tend to agree. Others however say it helps with anxiety. I don’t think there’s a uniform response when it comes to APs and anxiety.
Stress causes anxiety…anxiety keeps me from sleeping and eating properly… lack of those ramps up all other symptoms… the sz is manageable until i become stressed and the domino effect it causes… so my sz is heavily influenced by my ability to control my stress levels… stopping it at the stress level would be ideal…but sadly it makes it to severe anxiety before i really even notice it…
This is very interesting. I had severe anxiety for five years throughout my teen years which went untreated. Then I had my first breakdown and was diagnosed with sz. I had severe anxiety preceding my relapse in 2011-2012 too. It’s still a part of my life.
Anxiety is awful and it seems to me, undertreated.
I don’t think schizophrenia is an anxiety disorder.
I have and had a lot of symptoms, but anxiety is not one of them.
I do acknowledge that some schizophrenics may experience anxiety,
but I reject the idea that schizophrenia is an anxiety disorder
I have severe anxiety, and I gotta say, it’s 1000x worse than any of my positive or negative symptoms. What I would give to go a day without a panic attack. All the hallucinations, the delusions, even being depressed as hell and not getting out of bed for days is easier for me then my anxiety. If I could treat that, I feel like I would be able to cope with the rest easier.
It was six years before a doctor treated me for anxiety. Xanax eased it and reduced the paranoia tremendously.
The first six years was just unnecessary suffering. Someone needs to put in the shrinks handbook to treat anxiety with paranoid sz.
it was the fear that drove me into a psychotic episode in 2000