Can OCD cause psychosis?

[Curiouslywondering]

I'm new to this site, but my issues are relevant. I've diagnosed with OCD, Bipolar, Depression, and Anxiety. My OCD is my biggest problem I obsess even over the smallest things. I developed an obsession with having schizophrenia about a year back idk why or how but I was convinced I'd become schiz and start hearing and seeing things... Now I'm confused,I question everything I hear,I double take so often to check if I saw something. I think I've become a bit psychotic in that I think I hallucinate, but the problem is I'm not sure. Idk if it's my OCD making me hypervigilant or if I'm really hallucinating but I'm scared...anybody with any advice please help

[ricardo]

My name is Terry is the guy to help you on here. He is a font of knowledge on this subject, inparticular.

[Curiouslywondering]

Thanks @Ricardo do I wait for him to post or should I inbox him?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP

If you hear voices they will be clearly audible in Schizophrenia. We sometimes mistake our intrusive thoughts for this but they are very different.

Psychosis isn't connected to OCD or other anxiety disorders, its very different and you would be so wrapped up in it that you wouldn't be asking on here. I remember reading a leaflet from my local mental health centre that deals with out patient care and it made the point that you wouldn't know if you were and that it would be others that would see it. So, it's obvious that you are questioning yourself due to your anxiety.

Something else you need to discount are hallucinations or hearing voices when falling asleep, within the first 2 hours of sleep and upon waking. These are all recorded phenomena within Hynagogia (falling asleep & first 2 hours states) and Hynopompia (waking state). Anybody can see or hear things during those states and they are known as the normal processing of the brain in those states hence there is nothing to treat. I'm mentioning this because people who fear things like Schizophrenia mistake this for signs of it when they don't realise that a lot of people have these in those states. It's seeing & hearing things outside of these states that are more cause for concern. There are a lot more phenomena recorded in them too.

Sometimes we think we hear or see something anyway and the reaction of someone without anxiety is "that was strange" and then just carry on. I know I've had that long before my anxiety came.

The problem is that you are on alert and you have a fear of developing things like Schizophrenia so you are looking for signs of it as opposed to looking for signs to the contrary as well. This is known as Confirmation Bias in psychology. Your fear response is looking for signs to prove the fear true or possible so that it can react to protect you. Normally this would be a healthy process but in OCD you will be acting out compulsions to find the risk or just questioning yourself & everything. In Pure O they are more likely mental compulsions so its questioning, checking, testing, etc. These compulsions only serve to reinforce the anxiety disorder.

The area of the brain that looks for feedback to fears looks for negative responses. It especially looks for negative emotion, the stronger the better. It's not looking for neutral or positive so these are weaker in terms of influencing the response hence why therapy is so hard because it's working to stop the negative response and overtime retrain your subconscious to stop running the old negative routines.

It makes sense if you think about it because it was meant to protect us from being killed so why would we react neutrally or positively to something trying to eat us?

It's important not to push thoughts away or react with negatives because the subconscious sees that as confirmation it did something "valid". Notice the use of "valid" and not "correct". If you change the reaction, over time it will stop sending the thoughts to your conscious mind because it will know they are not required anymore. It's only really sending them because it's looked through it's autonomic routines and can't find a match so is asking the conscious mind what to do.

[Curiouslywondering]

@MynameisTerry ...Thank you so much. The relief that I feel is real. I've read and re-read your post determined to get it into my mind! All I want is to feel better and you've just gave me a stepping stone thank you. P.s My mind is always on high alert so I can see what you're saying annoy my mind looking for confirmation.

[Curiouslywondering]

BTW Terry it doesn't sound to you like I might have psychosis? OCD aside..also I'm on Geodon and Celexa

[MyNameIsTerry]

Glad to help.

No, it doesn't sound like it to me because you appear sound of mind for a start. I doubt someone with psychosis would be on a public online forum asking about it and besides you have even reassured one member when you joined which is further evidence this is about anxiety:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=170814

It's just the anxiety knawing at you. People with fears of contracting something or experiencing a more serious form of illness have issues like this where they show patterns of reassurance seeking and no amount of it ever really works; it's all short lived. So, at first you found a response helpful but now the nagging doubts are setting in and it's needed again. If you believe you are "reassurance seeking", it's a compulsion and will only reinforce your anxiety disorder. People who have these obsessions & patterns also feel they need an absolute "Yes" in order to move on and feel they never get it. If you look up Cognitive Distortions on Wiki (they are accurate, they match the ones a charity gave me from their CBT courses) you will see All-or-nothing thinking which is the need for absolutes and that nothing can be a shade of grey. But we have to realise that we can't get a 100% answer to many things, we can only get 99.9% and this bothers people with these types of doubting obsessions.

The way to work on it is to self reassure by rationalising your thoughts & challenging them as we do in CBT. This is a healthy way and retrains your subconscious over a period of time but also helps you avoid those traps I mentioned above.

In the diagnostic manual we use in the UK, which differs to yours, we have a group of psychosis disorders called Acute and Transient Psychotic Disorders. Acute stress cannot be over a long period of time hence examples of it are things like bereavement, torture, combat, etc. Things that really push you to the limits.

Take a look at this thread that recently was on the HA board about a guy going through that:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=173328

Can you see how Shaun's brother is so consumed by it that he can't see outside of it? Then look at how you are talking about the possibilities and even advising others thet are just suffering from OCD. Could you see Shaun's brother coming on here and asking if he has such a problem? So, thats the kind of thing that you would be looking at with acute stress causing psychosis. Maybe we can all have it, I'm not sure on that, but the point is that it is from extremes and you are not acting of sound mind hence medical professionals intervene to help you quite quickly. Does that make sense?

[Curiouslywondering]

Terry thanks again for the reply,I think I just wanted more confirmation that I wasn't crazy lol...It's just so hard to deal with what I'm going through I think therapy might be a good idea for me....and honestly what you said did help,I feel less alone and more understood...So thanks again