If I have an appointment for a physical with a new doctor, before I see him, all kinds of doom and gloom thinking pops up in my head, I will think to myself - him finding a terminal illness in me or something bad will happen. I picture him giving me an injection of some sort that will make me sick, all kinds of irrational dark thoughts/fears will pop up in my head some irrational thinking is involved not based in reality. I call this kind of thinking distorted thinking -
Sometimes before I take a new med - all kinds of fearful dark images and thoughts crop up - āwhat if I take this med and have a stroke?ā āWhat if I take this med and go into a coma - I actually vividly picture me slipping into a coma - and never waking upā My fears are vivid and usually based on irrational thinking - My thinking is based on fear and catastrophe and a lot of it is irrational - The burning question - Is this kind of thinking directly connected to schizophrenia exclusively? or is this kind of irrational fear/thinking common and found in other mental illnesses?
My therapist acknowledges distorted irrational thinking but does not see schizophrenia? Am I missing something here?
Are there other mental illnesses that involve irrational fears - thinking as a symptom? I would really like to know
(My current psychiatrist and last psychiatrist both diagnosed me with Schizoaffective disorder)
- OCD
- Depersonalization disorder
- Dissociative Identity Disorder
I had a lot of negative and irrational thinking like this from depression too.
Hmmm - very interesting indeed
I was going to say OCD too. OCD is very much about catastrophic thinking. I have that from time to time. I had a lot of problems with OCD as a kid. OCD is closely connected to touretteās syndrom that I have. But OCD can also be by it self or cormobid with other illnesses.
What is Tourettes Syndrome?
Here is a good video on Touretteās Syndrome
ocd like baked beans said, very normal.
what you described is a normal mind set for me, though i donāt actually care about the death thing, which makes it even more wierd.
for example i got paranoid about being bitten by a snake, yet death did not concern me.
take care
Great video.
Yes, itās all about tics and bad words getting stuck on my mind. Like I had a bad swedish word starting with an F stuck in my head. I had a really hard time to say other words starting with the same letter. I stuttered and stumbled over the words. Neuroleptics has made me tic a lot less.
When I tried Zyprexa for the first time I got a tickeling sensation in my stomach and it spread all over my body like a wave. Then I was relaxed and stopped ticking.
I have a lot of different kinds of disorders and symptoms - Schizophrenia - Bipolar - Generalized Anxiety Disorder and of course OCD - Man it gets confusing - these symptoms get mixed together, and this is where the āfunā begins
Same boat hereā¦ ADHD, OCD, PTSD, Panic disorder, depression, Schizoaffective, Schizophreniaā¦ Itās a good thing I donāt get too upset about labelsā¦ because Iāve had a few of them.
lol I forgot about Panic Disorder - I knew i forgot something
Would worrying about a major catastrophe be considered OCD?
Hi @BakedBeans. Worries are usually part of anxiety and yes catastrophic thinking could be a part of OCD, if you worry a lot. OCD is a type of anxiety disorder
It sounds just like anxiety. Itās only OCD if you canāt get the thoughts out of your head where they become obsessions, or you perform rituals to soothe the obsessions. I know how distressing it can be, but try not to worry about it. Tell yourself itās just anxiety, nothing more. I get catastrophic thinking and work myself into a panic. Itās a horrible feeling and you canāt help it. I hope it gets better.
I was diagnosed with OCD in my teen years, I do have compulsions/rituals with it, but there is a type of OCD it is called Pure O where the primary symptoms are obsessions and a lot of intrusive thinking, I am going to bring this type of OCD with my therapist and psychiatrist - sounds like I have this form of OCD really - not many rituals involved, a lot of it is distorted type thinking - intrusive thoughts and rumination