![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Morc on April 7, 2000, at 22:24:02
Hello, all. I hesitate to ask this question, because it's so personal, but I would like to hear from anyone courageous enough to relate their personal experiences. I need to figure out if this is happening to me now or not.So, what's it like? I'm interested in reports of whatever intensity, from the mildest to the most pronounced. My pdoc thinks my ideation is "soft psychotic", and has diagnosed me as bipolar II. Mostly it's just this annoying background burbling, mental "noise", though occasionally peaking into something more frightening and disorienting. Prior to this point I've suffered only from depression and panic disorder, the latter much relented these days. A previous pdoc called my episodes "atypical panic attacks", but they don't respond to benzos, so I'm skeptical.
Anyone else?
Posted by boB on April 8, 2000, at 12:22:48
In reply to What is psychosis like?, posted by Morc on April 7, 2000, at 22:24:02
The diagnosis of psychosis depends in large part on who is making the diagnosis. Many practitioners classify most spiritual beliefs to be psychotic, under the classification of magical thinking. Others practice the same kinds of behaviours that would be considered psychotic, such as offering in a clinical setting regression excercises and suggestions of past lives (this really happens). Psychosis, as defined by DSM-IV, comprises a wide range of mental conditions. Some people are obviously psychotic, at least that is my opinion having met some in public and in institutions. Other psychotics have very public lives, and their pathologic behaviour escapes diagnosis. I believe we have a large number of this kind of people in government, in the military, in the finanacial sector, and even in the academies.
If you want to know how psychosis feels, it is easy enough to degrade you mental organization with fatigue, hunger or neurotropic substances (including alcohol). The particular feeling will be subjective, depending on your life experience and the nature of your psychotic episode.
boB, Rd
Posted by Lunatic on April 8, 2000, at 15:57:21
In reply to Psychosis is like this..., posted by boB on April 8, 2000, at 12:22:48
Hallucinations, paranoia, delusions of grandeur, delusions of persecution, abnormal thinking, disassociation with reality, (don't know what time it is, what date it is, where you are etc.), mental confusion, fugue, bizarre behavoir etc.. If you can ask yourself the question "am I psychotic" then you are probably not. If you were psychotic it would be hard for anybody to convince you that you are.
Posted by boB on April 8, 2000, at 17:36:00
In reply to Re: Psychosis is like this..., posted by Lunatic on April 8, 2000, at 15:57:21
Whoever wrote "Chemistry of concious states" uses his own psychotic interludes to explain the feeling. This is a research neuroscientist who is honest enough to recognize that when he wakes up, fatigued in a strange room and thinks something is there that is not, he is experiencing a passing psychotic episode.
Then many of us who dabble in majical thinking, and maybe experience majical events that many clinicians would consider to be psychotic delusions like to remind ourselves:
Just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you.
The boundaries of psychosis are vague, variable and often solely the product of a linquistic construct. We've all been there at times.
Posted by bob on April 8, 2000, at 23:25:58
In reply to Re: Psychosis is like this..., posted by boB on April 8, 2000, at 17:36:00
All the semantics of diagnosis may be beside the point -- if you're looking into what meds may work and you've found that benzos don't help, then maybe an anti-psychotic (assuming your pdoc is choosing a med to fit your symptoms) will do the trick.
Lots of Babblelanders have mentioned the subjectivity of diagnostic labels lots of times. Just as "they" *really* may be out to get you, being labelled as having some psychosis doesn't mean you're a stereotypical psychotic. From the symptoms you've described, I think your kitchen knives are probably safe where they are right now.
What meds has your "psychosis-leaning" pdoc suggested for you? Do some research on them, and make sure you ask around here in Babbleland, and see if the medication will actually address the symptoms you have.
Now, there was a time for me (on Wellbutrin) when hiding the kitchen knives was beginning to look like a really good idea, given the unprovoked, irrational rages I would fly into without warning ... but 4mg/day of perphenazine (an anti-psychotic med) was enough to take the rage right out of me.
If you can, forget about what psychosis "is" ... and see if you can, instead, focus on gaining some relief from your disorder. Because whatever label you wind up wearing, how you react to a medication is dependent more on you than how it worked/works on any one of us.
best wishes,
bob
Posted by Lunatic on April 9, 2000, at 2:18:33
In reply to Psychosis is like this..., posted by boB on April 8, 2000, at 12:22:48
"Many practitioners classify most spiritual beliefs to be psychotic, under the
classification of magical thinking."Is this still true? I don't think it is based on my experiences. But if a persons belief is markedly different from common belief within the particular belief system then this may be a sign of delusional thinking. For example, if someone thinks they are Christ, God, or the Virgin Mary then its a pretty good bet they are delusional. But if you encounter someone who believes in "Faith Healing" and that person is a member of a large group of people with similiar beliefs, then that probably should not be considered delusional, because no one of us can claim "omniscience". Probably the best person to determine if someone is delusional concerning some belief is another person well versed in the same belief system. The psychological professions should not dictate what religious beliefs are valid or invalid because from a scientific point of view all they can be sure of is that they don't know.
Posted by bob on April 9, 2000, at 12:30:37
In reply to Re: Psychosis is like this..., posted by Lunatic on April 9, 2000, at 2:18:33
> The psychological professions should not dictate what religious beliefs are valid or invalid because from a scientific point of view all they can be sure of is that they don't know.
If it's just a believe in "faith healing", I don't think that's grounds for involuntary committal. I think what boB might be referring to, in the context of your example, would be the extreme case of, say, parents refusing medical treatment for a sick child who will certainly die without it and, though the treatment provides so reasonable hope, may still die with it. In such cases, how often does the state's responsibility not to interfere with religious beliefs get set aside by the state's responsibility to protect children from parents/adults whose actions are harmful to the children?
Again, having a nice, "clean" semantic label makes it that much easier for the lawyers and the judges to settle the issue one way or another. Belief in faith healing may not be legally delusional until it puts the life of a child at serious risk.
cheers,
bob
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.