Quote:
Originally Posted by undiagnosedinsanity
I am posting on behalf of my boyfriend who met with a psychiatrist today who diagnosed him with OCD and prescribed him fluoxetine. I believe that his symptoms fit much more closely with a dissociative disorder from what I have learned. Here are his symptoms:
-hearing a voice inside his head that does not sound like it's coming from the outside. he has heard the voice since 4 or 5 years old. the voice "gives" him thoughts and shows him violent images. The voice told my boyfriend he can take control of the body whenever he wants, but has not acted on this yet.
-frequent headaches, especially when the voice is talking a lot
-convulsion "episodes" (I thought he was having a seizure) where he cannot speak but remains conscious
-memory loss. he will write and say things that he does not remember doing. One time he told me that the voice thought I had a "cute smile" but when I asked him about it later he didn't remember saying it.
- a possible incident when he was young where the "voice" took control of his body and he was able to watch the voice's actions but he is not 100% sure
He does not report any anxiety and does not have any compulsive behaviors. His only symptom that seems to fit with OCD are the recurring thoughts, which don't appear to be his thoughts at all. We are definitely going to be getting a second opinion from a professional but do any of you have experience with being misdiagnosed?
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Im glad you said you were going to get a second opinion. there are many different problems, normal, mental and physical that can share the same symptoms.
like you have already figured out he shares some symptoms of OCD and what you have read about Dissociative disorders...
one thing that jumps out at me is there may be a reason why the psychiatrist diagnosed him OCD rather than a dissociative disorder.....please dont take this as a diagnosis..Im just making ....guesses.... according to what jumps out at me in your post...
for one thing the appearing to have seizures.. the way the diagnostic criteria for dissociative disorders are wrote up in the DSM 5, a person can not be diagnosed with a dissociative disorder if they are having seizures.
you can read more about the american version of what the dissociative disorders are here....
http://forums.psychcentral.com/disso...s-dsm-5-a.html
Another reason the psychiatrist may have not used the diagnosis of dissociative disorders is because there is a diagnostic process for dissociative disorders. one part of this process is ruling out things that share the same symptom like OCD, and other physical/mental health issues that share the symptom of hearing voices.
yet another reason why the treatment provider may have not diagnosed the person with a dissociative disorder is that the new diagnostics state the symptoms cant be better explained by other mental disorders. there are many different ways to present with OCD ....
some people with OCD do have
audio hallucinations (hearing voices)
psychosis (perceiving the voices as separate entities that take over, ....)
delusional thoughts actions....
maybe while he was with the psychiatrist he was in constant or repetitive movement that only a trained professional is trained to look for....
gosh there are so many different reasons why a treatment provider diagnoses someone in a way in which we may not agree with or not see those things in ourselves or others.
my suggestion contact the psychiatrist, ask him why he diagnosed the way he did, your boyfriend can even get a copy of the write up about the appointment that may explain to him why he was diagnosed the way he was.