Fears of psychosis/schizophrenia etc

[purplewitch]

Yesterday was Halloween. And as such people give out candy,so one of my neighbors gave me some candy yesterday and I happily ate it. Immediately then I got scared that someone put drugs in the candy. The reason I guess I got scared of this was because many people like to hype up the fears that people will drug their kids candy on Halloween. I know that it was a stupid thing to believe as it doesn’t really happen but I gave into the fear and started looking things up and getting really anxious. Today it has also came up as in “oh what if somebody drugged my food” I haven’t ate yet and now I’m scared to. I KNOW that this is irritational but I’m scared that I’m developing psychosis or sczhiophrenia (sp?). Is this a delusion or an irritational thought? Because I know its just a thought. Yet I’m also afraid that I’m going to believe it. If that makes sense

The only thing I can relate this to is that back in the day I used to avoid going on trains because of a bomb,I would be afraid to be alone because of someone kidnapping me/killing me,etc

The reason I am scared of psychosis and such is because of that and also sometimes I get intrusive thoughts that really really bother me. All of this bothers me so much and I’m very scared that I’m either getting those mental disorders or I’m going crazy.

[AntsyVee]

It’s sounds as if your intrusive thoughts are very OCD related. In fact that would also explain the health anxiety you are very prone to, even though you have a doctor in your family for immediate reassurance. Nothing you have said is indicative of schizophrenia.

[Zomboy]

Hey purplewitch

I believe those are intrusive thoughts, because as far as I know with schizophrenia there are no what if's, you would be fully committed to the thought that somebody drugged your candy.

[purplewitch]

It’s sounds as if your intrusive thoughts are very OCD related. In fact that would also explain the health anxiety you are very prone to, even though you have a doctor in your family for immediate reassurance. Nothing you have said is indicative of schizophrenia.


I think I do have OCD,there are things that I do repetitively sometimes with certain things and I hold certain stuff in very high regards. I have not been diagnosed with it but maybe I do have it.Also i dont have a doctor in my family (that would be hell for them lol)

---------- Post added at 18:45 ---------- Previous post was at 18:32 ----------


Hey purplewitch

I believe those are intrusive thoughts, because as far as I know with schizophrenia there are no what if's, you would be fully committed to the thought that somebody drugged your candy.


I still delved into it though,like I looked up a bunch of stuff online about drugs in candy and stuff? Feeding the fear maybe?

[Zomboy]

That's the obsessive part of OCD.
I don't think someone suffering from schizophrenia would doubt it enough to post on a anxiety forum, because this tells me that you have control over your thoughts.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's not delusion. Delusion is a form of psychosis, and as mentioned above that means being totally committed to it. Lost inside it. You would be insisting without doubt it had happened, not doubting it all and asking us.

It's also a known issue in OCD to fear external harms including poisoning. If you look at Gingerfish's thread on the OCD board, it explains how she & others struggle with this. It's part of contamination issues as opposed to harm. But intrusive thoughts can be about anything scary and themes can intertwine or overlap.

Repetitive behaviours, intrusive thoughts, etc are only part of an OCD diagnosis, it's not just the traits & cycles it's also that it is affecting your life. The reason being most people could end up diagnosed as many have such behaviours. But that doesn't mean I don't think you have OCD, there is obviously an anxiety disorder in play and not the schizophrenia you are worrying about, just that there can be misconceptions about OCD fed to us by the media ("I clean my kitchen a lot, maybe I have OCD","I check the locks multiple times", stuff like that where no real anxiety is in play unlike all of us on here!). Definately worth having a chat with your doctor or therapist though so you can get a clearer idea.

[purplewitch]

It's not delusion. Delusion is a form of psychosis, and as mentioned above that means being totally committed to it. Lost inside it. You would be insisting without doubt it had happened, not doubting it all and asking us.

It's also a known issue in OCD to fear external harms including poisoning. If you look at Gingerfish's thread on the OCD board, it explains how she & others struggle with this. It's part of contamination issues as opposed to harm. But intrusive thoughts can be about anything scary and themes can intertwine or overlap.

Repetitive behaviours, intrusive thoughts, etc are only part of an OCD diagnosis, it's not just the traits & cycles it's also that it is affecting your life. The reason being most people could end up diagnosed as many have such behaviours. But that doesn't mean I don't think you have OCD, there is obviously an anxiety disorder in play and not the schizophrenia you are worrying about, just that there can be misconceptions about OCD fed to us by the media ("I clean my kitchen a lot, maybe I have OCD","I check the locks multiple times", stuff like that where no real anxiety is in play unlike all of us on here!). Definately worth having a chat with your doctor or therapist though so you can get a clearer idea.

Thank you so much for giving me this information. Its insightful However,why is this still making me scared to eat and such?(I still ate today with the fear in my mind) Is it because its a fear? As I’ve stated in my post I am scared myself of the thought

[MyNameIsTerry]

With something like eating at some point you will have no choice but to do it and it just means a whole load of anxiety about doing so and then as you do it. But it's easily possible the reason is because you anxiety levels are pretty high in general and so your fears more easily intrude on you.

Aside from this, anxiety likes to make associations. For instance, having a big panic attack in a supermarket can mean you get very anxious about going in anywhere big inside or anywhere away from the exits, etc. When I had my breakdown it was at work in a large open plan office. Going into a supermarket after that was pretty terrifying for me. It's anxiety looking for a possible trigger to then kick the cycle of panic off.

Being scared of the thoughts is the most obvious part when it's comes to intrusive ones. They can be horrendous in content. But then it moves onto things in the real world for many of us e.g. someone who has thoughts of harm sees knives in the kitchen and worries so they hide them in their car boot or garage or someone with a fear of sexually abusing someone will avoid being around them. All these things just reinforce such cycles so we need to work on not allowing them to intrude on us but with eating that's impossible so you end up forced to confront something you have fears about or connected to.

I developed fears about eating when my anxiety was really high. Even drinking water was the same. For me it was about how in my high sensitised state I had focussed on how my body felt when eating and it scared me. Then the fear developed and meal times were very hard for weeks until I found a way out of it.

That's not the same as what you are saying but it's just to show how my subconscious made up fears from an event.

Your anxiety is thinking about the poisoning element and likely making connections to the paranoid schizophrenia (or even bipolar sufferers under certain circumstances) and thinking "what if" because we know those people can behave this way when they are experiencing their episodes. But they are lost to them, they fully believe they are being poisoned as opposed to you who is worrying about the thoughts coming to you that something "maybe" or "could", etc. There's a big difference and one very commin in anxiety.