[boris99]

Hi
I have been diagnosed with psychosis with major depression I am 43 yrs old,

I was set to go into a (php) program at a psychiatric hospital, and put on welfare watch, but my new insurance company is making me wait 4 months due to it being a pre-existing condition.

My psychologist doesnt think I have schizophrenia but diagnosed me with psychosis with major depression.

Is it correct to think of schizophrenia as chronic psychosis. In other words, if you have one psychotic episode, a label that could be applied is "psychosis". If you have repeated psychotic episodes, a label that could be applied is "schizophrenia?

I had filed for disability about 1year ago, but was denied, I was afraid to tell them I had psychosis with major depression.

I feel I should file for disability again.
I am on 4 different meds.
I also have physical problems as well.

any feedback would be helpful.
from your personal experiences,

thank you,

[EmptyReflection]

Regarding applying for disability - it's usually best to be upfront with them about everything. If not, one of two things inevitably happens:

- They find out anyway, or
- What you described (denial, when taking your actual condition into consideration might've changed the outcome)

[RunningEagleRuns]

You could look up the definition of schizophrenia online.

[Carole07]

Most people get denied for disability the first time around. You should reapply, and this time, tell them everything. That is the only way that you'll ever get it. I wish you well.

Sincerely,
Carole

[Twisti]

I got turned down twice for my SSI before I was approved for it on the 3 try

When I applied for Disability Living Allowance (I'm from UK) I wrote about EVERYTHING that I could possibly think of (I've also been diagnosed with psychotic depression). I also included a report that my pdoc wrote when he was transferring my care. It was horrendous filling out the form cos it made me feel like cr@p seeing it all down in black and white, and it took me weeks to actually complete the form cos I had to keep taking breaks and the booklet is massive, but it was worth it in the end cos I got accepted first time.

Unfortunately, circumstances now dictate that I have to apply for Employment Support Allowance (which I guess is like your disability benefit) and the huge booklet has just arrived in the post, but I will be doing the exact same thing as I did for DLA and keeping my fingers crossed.

Not putting down all of the effects on you that your illness has will not help them make the right decision. They need to have all the facts. I hope that you can appeal and give them more information this time, even though I know that it can be difficult to think/write about.

Good luck

*Willow*

Originally Posted by boris99

My psychologist doesnt think I have schizophrenia but diagnosed me with psychosis with major depression.

Is it correct to think of schizophrenia as chronic psychosis. In other words, if you have one psychotic episode, a label that could be applied is "psychosis". If you have repeated psychotic episodes, a label that could be applied is "schizophrenia?

Sorry, I forgot to answer this bit in my last post.

From what I understand about this (and it could be a UK thing) is that a person has depression first, and the severity of it causes them to experience psychotic symptoms as well as the depression, termed psychotic depression/depression with psychotic symptoms.

If a person had psychotic symptoms first and then got depressed later, that could either be schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia and depression (though schizophrenia can cause many depression-like symptoms in the negative symptom category which can appear many years before the onset of positive symptoms).

It's very complicated from what I understand, which is why a pdoc will conduct a full evaluation before giving a diagnosis. Have you seen a pdoc or just a psychologist? In the UK only a pdoc can make this kind of diagnosis.

From my experience as a medical student, I would be comfortable diagnosing a patient with first-onset psychotic symptoms with/out negative symptoms in someone in their late teens/early twenties as probable schizophrenia (as long as there's no illicit drugs involved). However at 43 I think it's a little too complicated for me to say.

I really think that you need to see a pdoc, if you don't already, and get a full evaluation. Sometimes though the patterns of an illness (eg multiple episodes of depression, some with psychosis, or illicit drugs then psychosis, or chronic psychosis etc etc) takes time to reveal itself before the pattern can be matched to an accurate diagnosis.

Anyway I hope that this makes sense.

Take care,

*Willow*

[costello]

My son was turned down the first two times too. Then we hired an attorney. The attorney explained to me that the decision is based totally on the medical record. In my son's case the medical record was very sketchy. I talked to his case manager. She and her supervisor sat down and wrote up the record so as to help him. The attorney took that record, appealed the second rejection, and Social Security reversed themselves. The whole process took nearly a year.

My little niece was also declined the first time through. She has partial agenesis of the corpus callosum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenesi...orpus_callosum), so she's clearly disabled by a documented physical problem in her brain which will prevent her from supporting herself when she's grown. So it isn't just people with mental illness who are rejected.