Horrible schizophrenia fear

[Shyplane]

For like 2 months I've been constantly dealing with the fear of developing or having schizophrenia. I've been able to deal with it sometimes, but it seems to come back again and again. I have no idea how to deal with this, and its even worse now that I was looking for articles to help ease my mind, and I found this horrible paragraph in the article.

"Nevertheless, although anxiety disorder does not lead to psychosis, and OCD in general does not progress to psychosis, sometimes OCD presents as the leading edge of schizophrenia, usually in a young person. In such cases, full-blown schizophrenia occurs within no more than two years after development of OCD. OCD and schizophrenia can also co-occur, strange as it may seem. There are articles in the literature about such “schizo-obsessives"

Please help in any way, shape, or form. I'm going into a panic attack now, and really need to calm down.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Where have you had that from?

There's lots of utter garbage out there on the Internet. I could show you credible looking sites that tell you antidepressants kill people or that there has never been a case of CBT working and it's all BS.

[BrokenAge]

First let me tell you I know how you feel. I use to worry about Schizophrenia constantly but let me help you a bit here. If you're worrying that you're in the middle of a psychotic episode then you are not. It would be a contradiction to be insane and worry about being insane. People with Schizophrenia can be misdiagnosed with OCD and vice versa. Someone with OCD could be worried that there food is poisoned and the be extremely anxious about and think "I know it's not poisonous but what if" the key word is what if. Someone who is schizophrenic cannot establish the "what if" their thought process is "someone is poisoning my food trying to kill me" and no matter how much you try to sway them they will not believe you. You are fine. You have an anxious mind and you are NOT schizophrenic. Like Terry said, that's utter garbage. I've read the same thing and had the same worries. I've had those worries for over 2 years and I'm not schizophrenic.

[Shyplane]

I appreciate you guys immensely, thank you.

[MyNameIsTerry]

This is from one of OCD UK's articles:

Schizophrenia
Some people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder have a fear that their OCD is the beginning of a more serious mental health condition, Schizophrenia, where they fear they will lose control. However, it is important to remember that developing OCD is not a precursor to someone going on to develop any other form of illness and that someone with OCD does not have any higher risk of becoming schizophrenic than any other member of society.

They are a leading charity in the UK with links to our NHS, leading OCD medical professionals and they work with others to improve knowledge of OCD across the country. They have very close ties to Dr Paul Salkovskis, a leading doctor who treats obsessive-compulsive disorders in the NHS, who has written papers & books on all this. They are in the know here.

It's like Nick says, it's a tenuous link. There are so many mental health conditions, some of them organic-based, that there can be misdiagnosis of things that can lead to bloggers putting out absolute rubbish.

[lostinamist]

Hi Shyplane, I developed Schiz OCD about 5 years ago and I'm still dealing with it (although it doesn't really effect me as much now). You need to stop researching because that will only prolong your recovery.

Funny enough, I was so afraid of schiz OCD that I thought I'd never be able to be around people with psychosis and schizophrenia. I'm now working for a mental health organisation and supporting people with psychosis etc.

Trust me, it will go away, its only your mind playing tricks on you..

Send me a message if you'd like to chat.