Originally posted by AlphaStarred
What I don't understand is how a psychiatrist can tell one they have psychotic symptoms but also have a personality disorder. Surely if the psychotic symptoms weren't present, then the personality may appear more "in order." Ridiculase!!
But yeah, in the US, they often make a diagnosis in the very first visit. I heard this is a very convenient way for the psychiatrist to bill the insurance companies. Sometimes they don't make a diagnosis at all.
Many people don't seem to understand (not referring to you, but generally) that personality disorders are not diseases per se, but traits etched in our personogenesis. As an example, theory says that people suffering from anti-social personality disorders have a lower activity of their amygdala hence the lack of empathy.
Personality disorders cannot be treated by means of medication, but in cases where there is deviant behaviour (borderline cutting themselves or multiple sexual partners without protection, drug use as an example)psychotherapy can be performed. However this is not possible without the full co-operation of the person. Many times these are not written in the chart of patients, or written under secrecy, because the stigma of attaching anything related to psychiatry on a young person can be devastating.
Certain personality disorders can be precursors to diseases. It's know that Cluster A (Paranoid/Schizoid/Schizotypal) are more prone towards developing schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has different methods of expressing itself with either positive or negative symptoms etc. But this is seldom the case. Anankast personality disorder is prone towards OCD and so forth.
In Europe, many countries have the rule that regardless if a person presents episodes of psychosis, a time-period of 6 months must pass before putting the final diagnosis.
It's sad to see that so many people feel contempt towards psychiatrists. Hopefully by this time next year I'll be a resident in it as well and it certainly isn't my intention to hurt people or keep them sedated for decades on end.
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Chimney
Many people don't seem to understand (not referring to you, but generally) that personality disorders are not diseases per se, but traits etched in our personogenesis.
No, that I understand. What I don't understand, as I mentioned, is how the psychiatrist can concurrently say one has psychotic symptoms and a mood disorder, and a severe personality disorder, when the so-called "normal" personality is missing, as it were, due to the mental illness. So the unstable moods, mood swings, high dudgeon, etc. are not a result of a "personality disorder," but rather a result of the mental illness and the debilitating symptoms themselves, which cause the severe distress.
What' I'm aiming at is that most people who develop mental illness don't feel like "themselves." Like their personality and identity is stripped away from them, as it were. It's fine to say one has a personality disorder when one doesn't present with a mental illness, or when one is in remission, but obviously one who may be having psychotic symptoms can be distressed to the point of presenting with features that one may think is "severe and dangerous."
Innocence Lost
What is all this mumbo jumbo , LOL.
Its either you get it or you don't
Chimney
quote:
Originally posted by AlphaStarred
No, that I understand. What I don't understand, as I mentioned, is how the psychiatrist can concurrently say one has psychotic symptoms and a mood disorder, and a severe personality disorder, when the so-called "normal" personality is missing, as it were, due to the mental illness. So the unstable moods, mood swings, high dudgeon, etc. are not a result of a "personality disorder," but rather a result of the mental illness and the debilitating symptoms themselves, which cause the severe distress.
What' I'm aiming at is that most people who develop mental illness don't feel like "themselves." Like their personality and identity is stripped away from them, as it were.
I see your point. First off, it would be a good thing to establish which mental illness we are talking about and under which of its portraits. If we take schizophrenia - which is the leading cause of psychotic episodes - and combine it with a mood disorder, we have something called 'schizoaffective disorder'. A quote from Mayoclinic:
quote:
Schizoaffective disorder is a condition in which a person experiences a combination of schizophrenia symptoms — such as hallucinations or delusions — and mood disorder symptoms, such as mania or depression.
However this is only possible in certain manifestations of schizophrenia, taken as the negative symptoms are beyond mood-disorders. We can take hebephrenic schizophrenia (disorganized) or catatonic schizophrenia which pretty much have a are a zero-sum affective stance:
quote:
The most prominent features of disorganized schizophrenia are not delusions and hallucinations, as they are in paranoid schizophrenia [...] a state of neurogenic motor immobility and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor
I won't comment any further since I´ve only heard of such cases and never seen one during my student years. However, according to my professor, people that have catatonic form of schizophrenia do not have the ability to eat, speak, dress, move or anything else.
The line beyond personality disorder and mental illness is often a very clear one, supported by the fact that PD kick in around the age of ~25 when the persona-genesis is done while schizophrenia most often has it's start around the age of 15-17 or in early childhood.
The mix between a personality disorder and mental illness is kind of rare - over here anyway.
Treatment is syndrome specific. That's why there's a plethora of neuroleptics out there.
Innocence Lost
I feel bad for some of these people. Especially those don't help themselves. I'm on a great diet, run every morning in the beach, and so on. My symptoms are feels like they are disappearing etc. I use to be alone at home eating my life away chilling in the core. But when I'm off my meds all hell breaks loose, so i'm very dependent on it.
Silky Johnson
quote:
Originally posted by Chimney
I won't comment any further since I´ve only heard of such cases and never seen one during my student years. However, according to my professor, people that have catatonic form of schizophrenia do not have the ability to eat, speak, dress, move or anything else.
Damn really? When I did my mental health rotation I saw many. One patient went off his meds and the police had to drag him out of his parents' tool shed where they finally found him. His hair was all full of mats, fingernails overgrown, unshaven, soiled himself, etc etc. Was pretty neat to witness his transition back to "normalcy" over the weeks I did my placement there.
Innocence Lost
Yeah thats me off meds, ho .
Silky Johnson
We live next door to a rooming house for people with mental illnesses. I always know when someone is off their meds, cause I'll get home from work and there'll be an ambulance in their driveway, lol.
Innocence Lost
I always felt unsafe when I got vaceracted or how ever you spell it. I don't trust thee cwazies. One thought i was cool cuz i looked like pauly d at the time LOL but he lost 3 fingers due to a fight the next day with another male.
Innocence Lost
Some are ok but it took me days to let my guard down and just feel loose around everyone.
Silky Johnson
Well as far as our neighbours go, we have always felt really safe with them next door. They're a hell of a lot better neighbours than the other douche next to us. Plus they have social workers and nurses around all the time to provide support.
I'm not really bothered by "crazies". My mother suffered with pretty severe mental illness, and I have a fairly strong educational background in mental health disorders.
I really feel for people with mental health issues and I know how the stigma ruins their lives...seen how they get treated like second class citizens, understand the utter loneliness and isolation they feel. I totally get what Chimney is saying about the caution used when applying labels - it really does people over.
Innocence Lost
Well I guess that your point of view. I guess its just part of my paranoia which is party of my illness; paranoid schitz. I love my meds, its the only thing keeping me normal. Without them i pretend to hear melissa's voice and eat, sleep, play games, get fat.
My meds is like my tackling fuel.
My best friend's sister likes me a lot. But i don't feel right tapping that this early in my diet come back nah mean? is already going down.
