how to confirm whether my mental issues is due to schizophrenia or anxiety
hello thank you for such a detailed history it makes things very clear I will sum up the main clinching reason why you do not have schizophrenia you have insight means you know what is wrong with you and you can attribute a reasonable logical cause to this and know where to seek help this is not the case with schizophrenics they do not have insight into the paranoia they will believe it is real this is an anxiety spectrum disorder and this over inclusive repetitive thinking can also happen in ocd obsessive compulsive disorder as well as a generalized anxiety disorder treatment for both essentially remains the same only the dosages differ a little do not worry this is not schizophrenia also do not keep in mind that schizophrenia has a higher chance of transmission from parents having an uncle with schizophrenia means you just share some genetic component keep in mind that the same gene is responsible for schizophrenia autism bipolar disorder and depression anxiety so if your uncle has schizophrenia that means you can have some sort of mental illness either something as mild as anxiety or as severe as schizophrenia please get started on sari selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or sari serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor type of medicines in addition to your therapy if you have not undergone some sessions of cut cognitive behavioral therapy please do that with a clinical psychologist since it will help you manage the symptoms of anxiety also please do deep breathing exercises daily four to five times a day when you are anxious you can do some more sessions of deep breathing until you calm down it will reduce the panicked feeling that you have
hello doctor these past few days I have been bad as I have focused back on my schizophrenia obsession it mainly focuses on times I have been paranoid or times I have visualized things as something else examples when slacking off at work thinking what if there are cameras in the office or internet tracking software when having a bad intrusive thought thinking what if someone around me can read my thoughts and thinks I am crazy seeing the silhouette of something really far away and imagining it is something else like a door stopper from very far away looks like the shape of a bird or a sandbag propped in the shape of a cat these are just a couple of examples that make me fear I am paranoid delusional or on the edge of hallucinating things there are other ones along those same lines that pop up on random occasions that I do not necessarily believe 100 but the possibility still causes me anxiety then the fact that they cause me anxiety causes me even more anxious after the fact wondering if these are paranoid or delusional thoughts I have talked to my therapist about these fears in the past but I may have left something out or not brought up these examples in clear enough detail she does not believe I have schizophrenia I also have talked to a psychiatrist and she told me these types of paranoid ideas may occur in anxiety or depression I am just terrified that paranoia is not a symptom of ocd and my poor vision cannot explain the minor visual imaginings not even hallucinations just premature constructions of shapes outlines and that I am not taking appropriate action to combat a much deeper mental illness my only issue with my thoughts is that they did not occur after I started fearing schizophrenia I have always had general anxiety they all have happened throughout my past after I started fearing schizophrenia I combed through my memories to try to find evidence that I am developing it and in that ruination process I picked out all the times I have had paranoid thoughts though I usually do not believe the thoughts or hold them to be true I still get anxious at what if I am hoping that is the defining characteristic that proves they are products of anxiety and ocd versus schizophrenia am I schizophrenic could it be just anxiety I also have an uncle who is schizophrenic and that always scares me does it mean I am too