Anxiety or Psychosis ?

[Daspace]

Hi guys, I need a little help.

I'm battling with the fear of schizophrenia and I'm terrified of getting delusional. Several psychiayrist said i'm not but you know...

Recently, I experienced a banal coincidence like everyone experiences every day.

But my ****ing brain is bugged and this is my thought pattern: "Oh hey, that's a funny coincidence! But wait a minute.. it's weird, what if noticing coincidences meant that I was delusional and that I was schizophrenic?"

At that time, I had a panic attack and since... I've been afraid of coincidences... (wtf)

But what's less funny is that now I seem to notice more and more of it, all the time. Is it normal ?

I really feel like I'm losing my mind

My brain to associate coincidences with delusional thinking... how to break this association?

Do you think it's still OCD or am I starting to get psychotic ?

Thanks guy, I know it's reassurance but i'm done today 😪

[ServerError]

Fear that I had schizophrenia or some kind of psychosis was one of my first anxiety spirals. It's a difficult one because you start questioning everything - was that normal? am I going mad? would someone else have noticed what I just noticed?


The thing to remember is that, generally speaking, people experiencing psychosis don't question it. They lack the insight to question their experiences. It's very rare for someone to present saying I think I might be psychotic and for them to be correct. Coincidences are a normal part of everyday life. They happen all the time.

What you're experiencing is anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I don't know if it's OCD - I'm not qualified to say. I do know it's possible to be incredibly worried that you're psychotic when you're not, because I've felt that way before.

[Daspace]

Thank you very much, yes the anxiety is overwhelming when doubt sets in.

What annoys me is that two months ago I was afraid of hallucinations, two weeks later afraid of being paranoid and now this. It really does feel like an endless worry replacing another.

I'm going to try to break, little by little, the link that makes me say that anxiety can lead to psychosis by reminding me of what you told me.

[ServerError]

Even the idea that anxiety can lead to psychosis is not quite the right way of looking at it. Anxiety is a normal human emotion that everyone experiences to some extent. Some people manage it well and keep it in proportion, but some of us are unfortunate enough to develop an anxiety disorder, where it takes over our lives. This can be comorbid with other psychiatric conditions like depression, or it can be a standalone anxiety disorder, of which there are several. This means that somebody with a psychotic illness like schizophrenia might experience anxiety as part of their particular picture (although they don't always), but it doesn't mean that simply suffering an anxiety disorder puts you on the train to psychosis.