Question about schizophrenia?!

Question about schizophrenia?

Hello, I am a 25 year-old caucasian male who has had major depression for about 6-7 years; i have been treated with some success for the past year or so; my psychiatrist recently noted his concern, however, that I was demonstrating certain early signs of schizophrenia; notably the so-called negative symptoms, i.e. lack of warmth, motivation or ambition, lack of emotional responsiveness, flat affect, little concern about socializing with others or developing intimate relationships; also, he mentioned my continuing insomnia as well; I do not currently experience any "positive" symptoms of schizophrenia, such as auditory or visual hallucinations, or psychosis; my question is, what is the likelihood I will develop schizophrenia in the months/years ahead? My doctor said "unlikely" because I am a little old--25-- and he stated that it is most likely schizoid personality disorder; how accurate is this, am i really too "old", and where can I find info on schizophrenia and related disorders?

You need to stop listening to these quacks. They are putting ideas in your head that, if you indulge, could *induce* the symptoms they are talking about.

If you have not had a life-long struggle with schitzophrenia-related symptoms, I would not expect you to begin.

My best advice for you would be to try to locate the origin of your depression. What made it begin in the first place? Was it that someone close to you died? A breakup? Getting fired? There are a lot of reasons a person can become depressed. Then, if the original cause of depression is not addressed, the depression will continue indefinitely. If there was not an original cause for your depression, then it may be a chemical imbalance, which some drugs may help, but I've found that psychiatric doctors are very suspect when it comes to the drugs they are prescribing - there are many, many doctors who simply put their patients on drugs so they will receive kick-backs from the sales.

Bottom line, unless your depression is linked to a chemical imbalance rather than a causal situation earlier in life, the best way to recover is to address the problem through psychoanalysis rather than through drugs. It may be that all you need is to see things in a different perspective.

And please do not allow a bunch of doctors to frighten you into believing you will go schitzo, when the fact is, they are really only speculating.