[brokengirl1980]

I've heard voices for about twelve years now. There are three male voices which I hear as coming from outside of my head. They are always there although the content of what they say can be determined by my mood. If it's low they're critical and aggressive. If it's normal they will just comment on what I'm doing (a type of running commentary). I was diagnosed with schizophrenia about ten years ago and put on a variety of medications. Clozapine was the only one that stopped the voices completely but I found the side effects of it to be intolerable and so stopped taking it. I'm now on Aripiprazole which helps lower the volume of the voices a little but they're still there.

About five years ago I moved home and changed psychiatric care team. Since that time my diagnosis has been changed to avoidant and borderline personality disorder. This seems to be based on the fact I self harm a lot (although this is always when I become distressed by the voices) and am rather withdrawn. I do find being around people rather difficult but I've always put this down to the voices as they can make interacting difficult, if they're loud or if they're telling me people hate me or are plotting against me. I don't feel I'm emotionally unstable. In fact I seem to feel numb most of the time. I'm currently undergoing group therapy for personality disorder and today in the session I mentioned that the voices are constant and have responded to meds in the past after my therapist told me that the voices are not 'properly psychotic'. She seemed surprised by this.

My question is how do I tell the difference between schizophrenia and a personality disorder? Which diagnosis (if either) seems to be the correct one? I know that diagnosing someone is not an exact science (especially online!) but I wonder if the treatment I am being offered would differ with the diagnosis and if my current diagnosis is really correct.

[pegasus]

Hello brokengirl1980,

You don't have to be schizophrenic to have hallucinations or hear voices. Psychosis can be part of many other mental health issues. There can be psychosis with clinical depression, bipolar, PTSD, it is how the mind reacts to distress. Also you can more than one, two or more diagnosis, so you could have a personality disorder and have psychosis. What I think is important is, whether you find the voices distressing or not, if so then you would need treatment (medication) for that as well.

[Flameytail]

Hello! I have the same response as the lovely Pegasus. I have symptoms like that as well, and I am not schizophrenic. It is hard, but you will eventually be able to over come it!

[Thunder Bow]

This shows how Labels can be totally useless, when it comes to understanding the human mind. They all over lap.