Which Mental Illness other than SZ has distortions in thinking?

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 - ā€œwhat if I take this med and have a stroke?ā€ ā€œWhat 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)

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  • OCD
  • Depersonalization disorder
  • Dissociative Identity Disorder
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I had a lot of negative and irrational thinking like this from depression too.

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Hmmm - very interesting indeed :pensive:

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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 touretteā€™s syndrom that I have. But OCD can also be by it self or cormobid with other illnesses.

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Wow thanks @Comatose

What is Tourettes Syndrome?

Here is a good video on Touretteā€™s Syndrome

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ocd like baked beans said, very normal.
what you described is a normal mind set for me, though i donā€™t 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

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Great video. :slight_smile:

Yes, itā€™s 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 ā€˜funā€™ begins

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Same boat hereā€¦ ADHD, OCD, PTSD, Panic disorder, depression, Schizoaffective, Schizophreniaā€¦ Itā€™s a good thing I donā€™t get too upset about labelsā€¦ because Iā€™ve had a few of them.

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lol I forgot about Panic Disorder - I knew i forgot something :smile:

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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. Itā€™s only OCD if you canā€™t 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 itā€™s just anxiety, nothing more. I get catastrophic thinking and work myself into a panic. Itā€™s a horrible feeling and you canā€™t help it. I hope it gets better. :sunny:

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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

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