[still_crazy]

my label/diagnosis varies. weird thing...I've noticed that more conservative counselors are quick to jump at schizoaffective, manic type...

many psychiatrists are more "holy manic depressive psychosis, batman! You're Bipolar!," so.. I dunno.

I will say that there's a strong mood element, and I think its mostly bad depression...as in, early, early onset psychotic depression, no true mania until age 23. that fabulous episode ended in some heavy-handed, involuntary shock. fun times.

but...yeah...now, I have normal, fairly good days...on edge days...no mania, I think since the manic episode I have a lower threshold before psychosis sets in, as in...

if my mood dips a lot, boom. there, it happens. if my mood goes up too much and/or too quickly....boom. in that case, its more like everything seems day-dreamy and surreal. short-lived, im on the miracle meds, so im definitely not out to harm self or others.

is this even "bipolar" or "schizoaffective" ? its funny...psychotic depression is kind of my main problem, but no one's really talked to me about it. long story.....

[sophiebunny]

I've seen a lot of therapists badly misdiagnose what are complex psychiatric illnesses. My current therapist ALWAYS defers to a psychiatrist when diagnosing psychotic disorders. Psychosis is complex and therapists don't have the medical training or experience to diagnose correctly.

I was diagnosed my a PhD psychologist as having schizophrenia. The diagnosis got in my electronic medical file and wreaked havoc in my life. My psychiatrist and I had to clean it up. What I have is Bipolar 1 disorder with psychosis, DID with a psychotic part, and PTSD with psychosis. My PhD psychologist was incompetent to diagnose psychosis that complex.

The lesson I learned, let the MD do the complex diagnosing.

[*Beth*]

I agree with sheltiemom2007. Many years ago, the psychologist I was seeing gave me a vague diagnosis of Borderline PD. He was an extremely bright man and we had a good therapeutic relationship, so I wanted to believe his diagnosis - even though psychiatrists I was seeing dx'ed me as having bipolar disorder.

I so wanted to believe my therapist's diagnosis that I would take only an ssri and Klonopin. Well, of course my bipolar flared up a lot...manias galore and episodes of terrible depression...just the whole bipolar landscape. I desperately needed a mood stabilizer. BPD didn't fit me then and now I know without a doubt that my diagnosis is bipolar disorder, and always was. That well-intended therapist really messed up my mental health treatment by insisting that I had BPD.

My point is that I encourage you to go with diagnosis from a psychiatrist(s) and get therapy from a therapist.

[Victoria'smom]

The only difference between SzA: BP type and BP that I know of is if you have psychotic symptoms outside episode.