Ok, so I just typed up a very long message that accidentally got deleted when I took too long and got logged out, so I'll just make this short. :P

I pretty likely have bipolar 2 (not sure about it, and pdoc is useless.) A little over a year ago, after what started with what may have been a mixed state, I went through a very bad spell including a psychotic spell. I'd never been psychotic before, and I have good reason to believe it was partially to fully caused by a bad reaction to a spell of a lot of very quick, irresponsible, med changes in a short period of time.
Things had been heading to a bad place before the meds, though, so I don't know whether a more mild psychotic depression would've happened anyway or not. I'm still confused about what was actually "natural" and "me," and what was caused by the meds and stuff, and I'm not sure whether I should actually consider myself "prone" to psychosis.
A lot of the worrying I've done since that episode has been useless and I know I'm gonna worry anyway because of anxiety. My mental health often gets worse in the winter, though, and things currently aren't great. It's likely normal depression and anxiety stuff, but some things have me worried or at least watching out for anything worse, though, so I was googlin'.

I've noticed that psychosis symptoms or warning signs I've read about can really overlap with depression symptoms, and be confused with symptoms of other things as well. How do you tell the difference?
This is the list I was reading just now:

Feelings – Not feeling 'right', not sure what's wrong: You might feel anxious or depressed. You might feel 'high' or stoned for no reason. It might seem like people are out to get you, and you may feel irritated or unsafe.

Actions – Not your usual self: You might have trouble sleeping. You might not feel like eating. You might feel just like being quiet and away from other people. You might be using more drugs or alcohol than usual. You might be doing things that seem odd to others, or even to yourself.

Thoughts – Too fast, too slow, hard to string together: It might be difficult to think, remember or concentrate. It might be difficult to make decisions. You might think very fast but be confused. "At first I thought I was coming down with the flu since the strange mental state I was experiencing was similar to the viral delirium that people get when they have the flu."

You may find that you are getting 'lost' a lot in the middle of talking about something, or going blank. "Sometimes I feel like the operator in my brain just doesn't get the message to the right place."

Low Motivation – Hard to move, hard to get things done: It may not seem worthwhile to get out of bed, to cook breakfast or even to wear clean clothes. It may not feel right to be around people. You might have a hard time starting tasks, or not feel much like doing anything. It may be impossible to perform as usual at work or school.

Delusions – It might not be what you think: A delusion is a false belief that is strongly held. Some people with psychosis believe that they are being followed or watched or that someone is plotting against them. Others feel that they have been chosen for special abilities or powers or that their thoughts are being controlled by others.

Hallucinations – They sound real, but only to me: Hallucinations are when a person sees, hears, feels, smells or tastes something that others do not. These sensations may feel very real and special, and it may be impossible to tell that they are not really there. The most common type of hallucination involves hearing things – such as voices talking to you about yourself or telling you to do things.

Other than the last 2 those are things I could experience from depression and/or anxiety, and the lines are blurred for me between those things causing them and them being "regular" symptoms, or other things causing them. My thinking and information processing definitely seem to be way off lately in a ton of ways, some of which could be depression of course, but some of it is reminding me of right before things started getting really bad before, which has me worried. Two of the other things that have me worried right now are motivation and social withdrawal (not on this list, but I've seen it on others). They can happen from depression for me, but there are a few spells in particular (right now is starting to look like one of them) where I remember them being particularly bad, or different almost. I've always thought of different depressive spells I've had as my different "types" of depression, because, ya know, symptoms can change but sometimes there's a sorta pattern. I also feel like the times when I've experienced a lot of paranoia have coincided with those symptoms being bad, but maybe I'm just overthinking things here. I just wonder whether I'm just worrying and over blowing things, or whether some things in the past that I've chalked up to "regular" depression and anxiety could've been on the psychotic side.

I've always thought of psychosis as either a big full blown episode, or super obvious, noticeable symptoms someone with severe mental illness has but it's "obvious" that it's psychosis. But then I've heard of it described as a spectrum, too, which confuses me. Can you have just mild symptoms of it for a spell, that never turn into a full blown episode? And if you're someone who could possibly go into a full blown episode, at what point does it become a real problem? I know I've heard about "depression with psychotic features" and similar things, I guess I'm just confused about what that actually looks like. And when do different med strategies become useful? I'm completely against taking antipsychotics, but then I wonder if I should go about my meds differently.