[sems315]

I have OCD and an anxiety disorder. I often become obsessed with certain illnesses, most often ones that involve mental health. Schizophrenia scares me the most. To give you some background information, I have always had terrible anxiety and OCD, even as a child. When I was younger I feared getting sick and throwing up to the point where I was not able to go to school. Recently, I have developed an intense fear that I will develop schizophrenia, or that I am in the prodromal phase of it. I can sometimes tell myself that this is silly, but other times I cannot. I suffer from panic attacks and moments of depersonalization and derealization due to anxiety, but I now fear that this is happening because I am developing schizophrenia. I also suffer intrusive thoughts and have for as long as I can remember, but I also now fear those are happening because I am developing schizophrenia. I worry that my OCD and anxiety is a precursor to me becoming schizophrenic. Are my worries valid or is this a result of my OCD?

[lucami]

hey sems315, your post is like reading about myself heh... same stuff, same fears.. for me talking with pdoc and people who knows this illness well helped quite a bit for fear of schizophrenia. they told me I don't have schizo even if I feel like that so I just try to stick with that, even if my mind goes 'crazy' sometimes in my opinion.. so anyway I think you should talk with psychiatrist who would make you sure if you have it or not

[Frog22]

I used to be really scared of getting schizo too haha

The way i look at it is, if i have schizophrenia, other people will tell me. Most people with that disorder think they are perfectly rational,and have no idea anythings out of order upstairs

I hope you overcome your fear too

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[sems315]

Thank you both! I've talked to a psychologist who reassured me that my fears are pretty irrational (I used to have a fear of suicide also).. However, even after being told I am fine I STILL worry! I guess that's what OCD does to you though. I should also mention I don't have any of the prodromal symptoms. I'm not socially withdrawn, not depressed or isolated, still enjoy things I used to. It's just my anxiety that makes me think I am or will eventually develop it. It is definitely the worst!

[CosmicRose]

Same, like 2 months ago for 6 months I was really scared of schizophrenia, I even asked my parents if anyone in our family ever was hospitalized for that. The fear eventually subsided. I think the underlying fear of that is the fear of losing control, which is a very normal fear many humans have, we're all scared of something happening to us that is out of our control.

[starliteyes]

You're not alone, I feared developing the disease for a year myself. Trying to convince myself I was sane, I read through so many forms of symptoms, medical studies, and personal anecdotes. Being knowledgeable about schizophrenia can help reduce the fear, along with realizing the irrationality of the fear itself. However, when I first became ensnared by the obsession, I went into a major depressive episode within a few weeks, where things got real scary, but luckily, I never went over that edge I was embracing myself for.

In my experience, the obsession had a nature about it that could be comparable to a black hole. It's not easy, but you just have to accept the possibility that you might get it, which statistically, is as probable as dying in a car crash. Even having said that though, I still couldn't imagine living with it myself considering how complicated things are in life already.

[CosmicRose]

I think a lot of this mental illness fear has to do with our society. There should be more studies done on human beings who live in populated societies. A lot of psychological change happens to people who live in densely populated societies such as ours, as opposed to humans who live in much more rural natural settings. There's a lot more added stress in a society. That's just my opinion anyway. Whenever I read the news about someone just losing it and going crazy, I often wonder if they would have done that if they had been living the way our ancestors intended which is naturally and off the fruit of the land in nature. They should have a name for that...like societal psychosis or something.

[ofthevalley]

Originally Posted by Frog22

I used to be really scared of getting schizo too haha

The way i look at it is, if i have schizophrenia, other people will tell me. Most people with that disorder think they are perfectly rational,and have no idea anythings out of order upstairs

I hope you overcome your fear too

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is not at all factual.

[-jimi-]

Health phobia of any kind can be tricky because you will look for answers like you can "think" your way out of it, like thinking enough rational thoughts and it will stop. And it doesn't work like that. If reassuring once does not work, it will not work the second or the 100th time either.

The solution is dealing with the thing driving it, what overrides reason, which is emotion. It is not EASY. You "just" have to tell yourself OK so what if I AM developing an illness? Instead of telling yourself it is impossible, you think if things go that bad, you try to deal the best way you can.

This is another type of reassuring that seems to work better because it addresses the emotion rather than the reason.

[Alone_and_Afraid]

Ha, I had the same fear because I heard someone had schizophrenia in my family.

[Perna]

I help myself by reminding myself that being afraid of something is not the same as the something. Fear is 100% imagination as it is about the future and we cannot know the future. So, being afraid you will get schizophrenia is not the same as having schizophrenia.

Think of it this way. You know when you get a cold or sick in some way and how you feel and what it feels like? When you are afraid of getting sick, you do not feel the same way, you do not have a fever and ache and dwell on how rotten your body feels but are thinking, instead. Remind yourself that thinking is not a feeling!

Another thing that helps me is to literally name my fears and make fun of them. Call your schizophrenia fears a name, say, "Howard" :-) and then get disgusted that Howard is bothering you again and tell him to go away, you aren't in the mood. Box them in and shut the box, label it, and put it somewhere else or symbolically take it down the street to one of those used clothes bins and dump it in :-) Go to a thrift shop and buy Howard a really cheap, ugly sweater/article of clothing and drop that off in a clothes bin?

[sems315]

Thanks for all of the support! Your answers really do help! Some days are easier than others..
Some days I can remind myself that I'm being silly but other days I can't shake it! I also know that after I get over this fear I will develop a fear of something else.. It never ends!