Advice on mental illness

Carra23

Hi all, just wondering if you suffer from schizophrenia is it possible to completly cure yourself of it ? I know there is something wrong with me but not entirely sure if it is as serious as schizophrenia , the only reason I would think that it is because from a very young age I was using drugs and an awful lot of them. My father died when I was 11 and about a year after I started abusing cannabis and alcahol which eventually led to other stuff. I started to have problems when I was around 17 and have never been diagnosed or treated properly. I have read a little about schizophrenia and the symptoms. I do not hallucinate or I am not dellusional but there are symptoms known as flat presentation and I feel like they are the ones I represent. I would just love to know if that is what is wrong with me that it is possible to have my mind back to the way it once was as I am 26 now and suppose for years hoped n wished that my problems would just go away but now have accepted that they won't and I need to do something about it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Carra23

Odysseus

Carra23 wrote: »

Hi all, just wondering if you suffer from schizophrenia is it possible to completly cure yourself of it ? I know there is something wrong with me but not entirely sure if it is as serious as schizophrenia , the only reason I would think that it is because from a very young age I was using drugs and an awful lot of them. My father died when I was 11 and about a year after I started abusing cannabis and alcahol which eventually led to other stuff. I started to have problems when I was around 17 and have never been diagnosed or treated properly. I have read a little about schizophrenia and the symptoms. I do not hallucinate or I am not dellusional but there are symptoms known as flat presentation and I feel like they are the ones I represent. I would just love to know if that is what is wrong with me that it is possible to have my mind back to the way it once was as I am 26 now and suppose for years hoped n wished that my problems would just go away but now have accepted that they won't and I need to do something about it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Carra23

Hi Carra, nobody can answer a question like that over the net, if you have concerns go and speak to your GP, he will be able to pick up on any symptoms and refer you on then to a more apporpriate service if required. Sorry I can't be of more help than that.

Carra23

Odysseus wrote: »

Hi Carra, nobody can answer a question like that over the net, if you have concerns go and speak to your GP, he will be able to pick up on any symptoms and refer you on then to a more apporpriate service if required. Sorry I can't be of more help than that.

Ok thanks. Just one more question , I was thinking of going to see a counselor and was wondering if that is the right type of person to see ? I tried going to my GP about this a year after it all started and he refered me to the local clinic. The people there told me I was fine based on answers I gave them for questions they asked me from the GHQ. I wasn't happy about that because there was questions like ' Do you hear voices in your head ' and because my answer was no they said I was ok. I was young at the time and stupidly listened to them.

hotspur

A counsellor may not be the best professional to go to initially. Notwithstanding your previous experiences when young I agree with Odysseus that it's best to go to your GP and listen to his advice regarding being referred elsewhere.

It's possible you may get referred to a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. While counselling may very well indeed be a good idea and helpful, very few counsellors are psychologists and even fewer are psychiatrists. This is relevant if a diagnosis of something such as schizophrenia could be made. 9/10 counsellors are not trained to make diagnoses of psychological disorders.

So it might be better not to contact a counsellor yourself first, but go the GP -> referral route initially.

Odysseus

Carra just to reinforce what Hotspur stated alot of GPs refer to what we may call low cost counselling centres, some of these do excellent work, however, in alot of cases these centres are facilitating people who are in training, yes they are supervised but with your query I would suggest the GP and seek a referal to a psychiatist or clinical psychologist. I would also like to point out that we where all trainees at one stage, so I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that.

For example I'm a psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which means I had so far five years of academic study, which included five years personal analysis, and for the past seven years after that I have contiued with my own study through reading groups and study with follow therapists and continued supervision.

I am only metioning the above to make my next point, from what you said in your post if you were client in my centre I would be quite happy to work with you but would want you correctly assessed by our psychiatrist.

So I am sure psychotherapy would benefit you, but only after being assessed by a psychiatrist. I apologise for the long winded way of making my point but hopefully it makes sense to you.

Anyway best of luck with it.

Carra23

Odysseus wrote: »

Carra just to reinforce what Hotspur stated alot of GPs refer to what we may call low cost counselling centres, some of these do excellent work, however, in alot of cases these centres are facilitating people who are in training, yes they are supervised but with your query I would suggest the GP and seek a referal to a psychiatist or clinical psychologist. I would also like to point out that we where all trainees at one stage, so I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that.

For example I'm a psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which means I had so far five years of academic study, which included five years personal analysis, and for the past seven years after that I have contiued with my own study through reading groups and study with follow therapists and continued supervision.

I am only metioning the above to make my next point, from what you said in your post if you were client in my centre I would be quite happy to work with you but would want you correctly assessed by our psychiatrist.

So I am sure psychotherapy would benefit you, but only after being assessed by a psychiatrist. I apologise for the long winded way of making my point but hopefully it makes sense to you.

Anyway best of luck with it.

Thanks for all your advice it's been very helpfull. I'm just wondering now does my GP have to refer me to psychiatrist or is it like booking a session with a counsellor ? I mean can I just get a number for someone and make an appointment myself ?

Odysseus

No your GP will have to make the referral to you local psych services

eth0_

OP if you're not experiencing voices or hallucinations then more than likely you're NOT suffering from schizophrenia. Flattened affect is a symptom of many mental disorders.

Ask your GP to refer you to a psychiatrist.

Carra23

eth0_ wrote: »

OP if you're not experiencing voices or hallucinations then more than likely you're NOT suffering from schizophrenia. Flattened affect is a symptom of many mental disorders.

Ask your GP to refer you to a psychiatrist.

Thats good to hear . I will try some sessions with a counsellor and if that doesn't make me feel any better I will visit my GP . Thanks for the advice

Odysseus

Carra, please get a proper assessment first, I have been working within the addiction field for over a decade and I only know Hotspur from here but I understand he has a few years knowledge with the area too. I am only telling you that as you as situating part of your problem on your history with alcohol and drugs.

We are suggesting going to you gp to get a correct referral for a reason. It is against the forum to offer clinical opinions and to be honest it can really be done over the net. Eth0 also suggested your GP. If your have some resistance speaking your GP you can always go to a different one. However, if you decided against this try to get someone with solid quailifications, my perference would be Masters level.

sam34

eth0_ wrote: »

OP if you're not experiencing voices or hallucinations then more than likely you're NOT suffering from schizophrenia. Flattened affect is a symptom of many mental disorders.

Ask your GP to refer you to a psychiatrist.

thats not accurate, tbh. there are other first rank symptoms of schizophrenia besides hallucinations, and a diagnosis of schizophrenia can be made without hallucinations.

you really need a psychiatric assessment, and you need it soon.

Carra23

sam34 wrote: »

thats not accurate, tbh. there are other first rank symptoms of schizophrenia besides hallucinations, and a diagnosis of schizophrenia can be made without hallucinations.

you really need a psychiatric assessment, and you need it soon.

I will take all your advice and see my GP. Is there somewhere in particular I could ask him to send me because as I said before I tried this already when I was 17 and it was like the person I saw tried to tell me that my problems were just my imagination but they are definitely not. Don't get me wrong I am not at my whits end with all of this and have never contemplated suicied or any thing like that. I hold down a pretty good job hav a house with my girlfriend and a young son but there is defo something up that needs fixing.

sam34

explain your symptoms to your gp, tell him everything and he will know where best to refer you.

it really sounds like you need a psychiatric assessment first, before exploring any other options.

good luck, i hope it all works out ok for you

Odysseus

Well if you state that to your GP I'm sure he will factor that into the equation when he is making the referral, he will know what services are available in your local area. Clearly something is not right, this is not the place to articulate that, however, spend some time gathering your thoughts on this issues.

micko35

Hi

I work in the area of mental health and am also qualified as counsellor. I think you would be best served initially by going to a GP. From my experience, GPs and indeed psychiatrists can make mistakes, so if you feel there is something wrong, I urge you to pay attention to that. Even if you don't have schizophrenia, it does sound like you are very unhappy and maybe seeing a counsellor might be very useful.

Also, your GP can refer you to a local health centre to see a psychiatrist if this is deemed necessary. From my experience of working in the area of mental health, a large proportion do not understand their mental illness and as a result are not really equipped to deal with things as maybe they could. And so, I would urge you to educate yourself and understand things rather than not being able to, and as result becoming even more anxious.

Also, Sam34 is right. There are many symptoms that can be used to diagnose schizophrenia, so it is best to act sooner rather than later.

Last, but by no means least, speak to close friends - it's what they're there for




Hope this helps

Carra23

I suppose it was silly of me to expect an answer to my original question over the internet from people who know very little about me or my situation so I will take all your advice on board and go through the proper channels but worry now a little of the cost. I had emailed a counsellor already to enquire about cost and explained to her briefly my problem. She too advised me to see my GP first and then to go see her. She quoted me 65 a session which is reasonable enough, but just wonder how much it would roughly cost to see a pychiatrist ? Is it more expensive ?

micko35

Carra23 wrote: »

I suppose it was silly of me to expect an answer to my original question over the internet from people who know very little about me or my situation so I will take all your advice on board and go through the proper channels but worry now a little of the cost. I had emailed a counsellor already to enquire about cost and explained to her briefly my problem. She too advised me to see my GP first and then to go see her. She quoted me 65 a session which is reasonable enough, but just wonder how much it would roughly cost to see a pychiatrist ? Is it more expensive ?

Hi Carra,

I would say EUR 50 - 60 is the average, depending on who you see and where. Very often, counsellors will offer a sliding scale, whereby they charge according to a person's ability to pay. I think this is going to be more important considering the economic climate we find ourselves in.

If you are seeing a psychiatrist through your GP, then this should cost nothing if you go Public. However, if you go private, it will cost quite a bit, I would imagine.

Having said all that, your GP would make an urgent referral through the Public system, should he/she think it was required.

Hope this helps.

sam34

the public psych services are free.

how quickly you get an appointment depends on how urgent your case is. they all offer same day assessment (usually in the local a&e dept, but done by psych team) if it's an emergency.

i cannot reiterate strongly enough that you should go to your gp and a psychiatrist before seeing any sort of counsellor or therapist

JuliusCaesar

sam34 wrote: »

the public psych services are free.

how quickly you get an appointment depends on how urgent your case is. they all offer same day assessment (usually in the local a&e dept, but done by psych team) if it's an emergency.

i cannot reiterate strongly enough that you should go to your gp and a psychiatrist before seeing any sort of counsellor or therapist

Sam is right. The Mental Health Services provide an all round service. They have psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, psychiatric nurses, counsellors, and psychotherapists. They provide services for out-patients, inpatients and day patients. They get dissed a lot, but they do provide a service which no other service can. And they are in your local area!

Xluna

Carra23 wrote: »

Hi all, just wondering if you suffer from schizophrenia is it possible to completly cure yourself of it ? I know there is something wrong with me but not entirely sure if it is as serious as schizophrenia , the only reason I would think that it is because from a very young age I was using drugs and an awful lot of them. My father died when I was 11 and about a year after I started abusing cannabis and alcahol which eventually led to other stuff. I started to have problems when I was around 17 and have never been diagnosed or treated properly. I have read a little about schizophrenia and the symptoms. I do not hallucinate or I am not dellusional but there are symptoms known as flat presentation and I feel like they are the ones I represent. I would just love to know if that is what is wrong with me that it is possible to have my mind back to the way it once was as I am 26 now and suppose for years hoped n wished that my problems would just go away but now have accepted that they won't and I need to do something about it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Carra23

Hi,

The best thing to do is get referred to a psychologist via your G.P. but I can't help but notice what you said about having the flat affect but no hallucinations. From my knowledge it's possible to have the flat affect(dissociation) and not have schizophrenia. Other diagnosis for this are Borderline and as well as many others so I would'nt be so fast to label yourself as schizophrenic if I were you.

sam34

Xluna wrote: »

Hi,

The best thing to do is get referred to a psychologist via your G.P. but I can't help but notice what you said about having the flat affect but no hallucinations. From my knowledge it's possible to have the flat affect(dissociation) and not have schizophrenia. Other diagnosis for this are Borderline and as well as many others so I would'nt be so fast to label yourself as schizophrenic if I were you.

the fact is that the symptoms described by the op could be ascribed to many different things, so he/she needs to see a doctor to ascertain where best to go next.

Carra23

Xluna wrote: »

Hi,

The best thing to do is get referred to a psychologist via your G.P. but I can't help but notice what you said about having the flat affect but no hallucinations. From my knowledge it's possible to have the flat affect(dissociation) and not have schizophrenia. Other diagnosis for this are Borderline and as well as many others so I would'nt be so fast to label yourself as schizophrenic if I were you.

I like to hear comments like that it makes me feel a litle better and all the advice seems to be to see my GP which I will do in the near future. Thanks again to everyone who offered me some advice it's much appreciated

sam34

carra, this is serious.

you cannot afford to mess with your mental health.

i cannot believe it is over two weeks since you started this thread and you have yet to see a GP.

you seem to be clinging on to posts that say "i dont think you have schizophrenia" - while it is understandable that you would do that, it is dangerous to do so.

noone here can say whether or not you do have schizophrenia or any other mental illness.

anyone who offers an online opinion on what you do have is almost certainly not qualified to do so.

you need to see a doctor.

p.pete

This thread should not have been allowed to run, an oversight on my part. Glad if you got some assistance from it Carra23, as above please seek the advice of trained medical professionals over online support.