Is it possible to mix up clinical depression and schizophrenia?!
Question: I was diagnosed with clinical depression but i think I hear voices telling me to do stuff whenever i tell my dr that i hear/see stuff he says its because I'm depressed. All my friends think I'm schizophrenic. Even my gf thinks I'm schizo. So I'm j/w if it is possible to mix up the two.
Answers: I was diagnosed with clinical depression but i think I hear voices telling me to do stuff whenever i tell my dr that i hear/see stuff he says its because I'm depressed. All my friends think I'm schizophrenic. Even my gf thinks I'm schizo. So I'm j/w if it is possible to mix up the two.
Schizophrenia is often associated with depression. Hearing "voices" is an hallucination. Hallucinations are very common as they say 40% of the human population report having had an hallucination at some time in their life. Having an hallucination therefor is not indicative of schizophrenia. Only a qualified psychiatrist can diagnose schizophrenia which is not a single disease but a spectrum of disorders. You do not want a diagnosis of schizophrenia if you can help it as the misunderstanding and misinformation the general public have about these disorders is abysmal. Besides the stigma associated with this misunderstanding isolates one.
Look up "hallucinations", "schizophrenia", "mental illness" etc. in a Yahoo! web search for more info on these subjects. Wikipedia has good summaries.
Good luck with your depression, good mental health, peace and Love!
A psychiatrist should be able to tease out the difference. Major Depression with psychotic features and Schizophrenia can have overlapping symptoms, such as both have hallucinations. The duration of symptoms, the content of the hallucinations and the mood of the person are usually the factors used to distinguish the disorders. Talk to your doctor and ask for a complete history and evaluation to determine diagnosis. Often, the treatment is the same either way, but the prognosis will be different.
Sometimes antidepressants can trigger auditory hallucinations in some people so just be aware of when you started hearing voices. MDD can definetly have psychotic features so auditory hallucinations isn't just associated with schizophrenia.
Its possible. Your meds could be causing hallucinations, or you might be bipolar instead of unipolar (just depressive, not manic-depressive), and bipolar can sometimes have hallucinations as a symptom.
The other answers are really good.
Are you seeing a psychiatrist or a regular doc? If your depression is that bad, you should see a specialist.
I think it's likely the doc is right. You should go get a second opinion, it is your right.
Usually schizophrenia has "negative" symptoms, like flat emotions and some other stuff. You will want to google schizophrenia. The general public thinks hearing voices means schizophrenia, but usually people are not informed on these topics.
Good luck!
PS ask the doc why he thinks it is depression and why he ruled out schizophrenia.