Psychosis?

JenniFurr

I'm going to try to keep this a simple as possible. I've been diagnosed (for the moment) with psychosis caused by depression. I've been seeing a consultant psychiatrist for a short time now and I have a bit of a dilemma. My psychiatrist thinks I've been suffering from psychosis for a little while when actually I've been having auditory and visual hallucinations for a considerable amount of time now (more than 3 years, I think)

No one in my life knows that I've had this problem and I almost don't even want to mention it to my psychiatrist because I've learned to deal with this in my own way. The reason I don't want to bring this up with my doctor is that I'm afraid I may be diagnosed with schizophrenia or something similar when I have no delusional beliefs (like believing people are out to get me, I'm being watched etc.) and this may cause difficulty with getting a job in the future.

I really don't know what to do. I know I should talk to my psychiatrist but I already feel like I'm not being listened to and I've been given four different anti-depressants (Lexapro, Cymbalta, Mirap and Lustral) over the last few months that don't seem to be making a dent in my depression at all. I feel as though I'm just having medications thrown at me.

I've almost come to regret ever trying to get help as I feel some of my symptoms have gotten worse as well as family and doctors have given me unwanted attention. I'm finding it even more difficult than usual to feel comfortable in the company of others due to it causing me severe stress and anxiety.

I'm just looking for some advice on how to tackle all this as I have no idea how to even address all of this with a psychiatrist.

Saila

If you believe you have no delusional beliefs then why dont you tell the psychiatrist and let him do his job. You're anxious but you have to trust the psychiatrist. No one here can tell you any different without breaching the charter of giving medical advice.

JenniFurr

Saila wrote: »

If you believe you have no delusional beliefs then why dont you tell the psychiatrist and let him do his job. You're anxious but you have to trust the psychiatrist. No one here can tell you any different without breaching the charter of giving medical advice.

I can completely understand what you mean. I think I didn't phrase everything in my post though. I think my anxious toward my psychiatrist comes from that fact that on my first visit he said I most likely had schizophrenia without asking me a single question (he referred to my details forwarded by my GP). Having a close friend with schizophrenia I naturally asked them about the condition in more detail from their point of view. I felt that the presumption of schizophrenia was made rashly as I had only about ten minutes tops with the psychiatrist. I was a bit underwhelmed by the experience and I wasn't prescribed an anti-psychotic which I assume, albeit as lay person, would be the first step in treatment.

The next time I attended this doctor I felt like he was reading a completely differently file as he stated I was suffering from depression and psychosis, which wasn't even mentioned in the first visit. Maybe my first visit to this doctor was on one of his off days, I'm not sure but I'm not inspired with confidence. I have a psychiatric nurse coming to visit tomorrow so I think I'm going to just bring up these issues with him. Having spoken to him before he seems like a great listener in comparison to the doctor.

sam34

OP the only advice we can give you here is to be honest and disclose all your symptoms as well as their duration.

otherwise you wont get the best treatment for you.
it's your health and your future, and you deserve the best treatment for you