A Question About Bpd With Bipolar And Schiz ?

[canadianbumble]

S''t this is my second attempt at writing this down. My new psych made the open conclusion that I am possibly bipolar and have schizo-affective disorder. If that is the right terminlogy. Can these things exist alongside BPD? I have another session to go, I think, before she has completed her assessment. I didn't even know I was being assessed. Also she thinks that I have dissociation because of my time lapses and I guess I did that whilst she was asking me questions. It was after she was asking me about abuse and I must have just clinked out for a couple of minutes. The whole time I was more worried about the faces in her carpet. I found it really hard to keep focused. has anyone got any info on schizo- whatever? I don't know anything about it. Going to have a look later but what does this mean re BPD since she still says I have BPD traits??

[Villan]

sorry, not a clue...

but i dint wanna "read and run" and also wanted to send you a big huggle cos i know things are a lil all over the place with you at the mo... i hope you get some decent helpful replies...

love and snuggles - kath xxx

[Data]

Sounds very hard, canadianbumble .

In my - naive - opinion, BPD is something that you get from childhood abuse/abandonment/trauma/difficulties, and things like bipolar/schizoaffective/schizophrenia are chemical imbalances that just happen or are genetic. I know that you can have both. I read somewhere, in quite a good book, that 10% of people with BPD also have bipolar.

[canadianbumble]

Hey Kath, Thanks for all huggles and blankies. I am so grateful for any of your replies. At the moment your hugs have me crying because I donn't know why, because in a good way you aknowledge me for which I am soo sooo grateful . Thankyou :hug2:

[Villan]

be gentle with yourself dear bumble

xxx

[roxy222]

schizoaffective disorder is like a cross between schizophrenia and bipolar, it most commonly is given as a dx when people exibhit symptoms of schizophrenia but who go through manic depressive cycles like someone who has bipolar. the few people i know with this dx are very sucessfully in recovery and have managed symptoms well with meds and therapy.

many illness have many cross over symptoms and its perfectly possible to meet the majority of criteria for bpd and schizoaffective disorder, whether or not youd get dx with both has alot more to do with your pyschs background and school of thought.

theres just as much evidence to suggest that schizophrenia and bipolar have enviromental causes as there is for bpd, but there is some credible evidence to suggest that there is some small genetic component (although twin studies have been widely discredited, which some mh professionals seem to forget). original thinking was that these were genetic illnesses and that pds were not ilnesses, which has created the generaly assumed differneces. i mostly work with people who have schizophrenia, and many have v obvious symptoms of bpd also, but iv never came across anyone with a dual dx of these, and have came across one person who had a previous dx of pds and had it changed when schizophrenia was suspected, but i think this has alot to do with the general school of thought of whatever professionals you deal with.

best of luck with your assessment and accessing help. tgcxx

[canadianbumble]

Thank you Roxy this has made things clearer for me. My main worry is that they say there is no hope of recovery and that I will be on meds forever more. Currently I am waiting to have an assesssment for a DBT grop, I was pinning alot of hope on this but if my diagnosis gets canged I wonder whether I'll ever be allowed on the course.I know that at the moment I am not stable enough but I realy wanted to gain some skills to change myself for the better. Many thanks for the reply.

[roxy222]

Thank you Roxy this has made things clearer for me. My main worry is that they say there is no hope of recovery and that I will be on meds forever more. Currently I am waiting to have an assesssment for a DBT grop, I was pinning alot of hope on this but if my diagnosis gets canged I wonder whether I'll ever be allowed on the course.I know that at the moment I am not stable enough but I realy wanted to gain some skills to change myself for the better. Many thanks for the reply.

id imagine theres a gd chance that theyd expect you to take meds forever, but tis nto that straight forward. all the psychs (bar one, who was my own private t) that i know advocate life long meds for those with dx of schizophrenia, and yet research indicates that between 20 and 25 % of people dx with schizophrenia come off medication permenantly very successfully, and although many still experinec symptoms they are very managable, and do not negatively effect their lifes. thers whole movements set up around this, rufus may was dx with schizpohrenia at 18 and later came off meds, got degrees in pyschology and psychiatry and is heavily involved in the hearing voices network that has alot of coping stratagies for dealing with voices etc, like voice dialogue, and many service user developed coping mechanisms, and these groups tend to have alot of links to support systems for coming of meds (there is actually a website called that i believe) and do alot of mental health advocacy. the t i saw was an expert in voice hearing as well as dissociation and child truama and he said he knew alot of people sucessfuly come of medication, so even if your pysch says a certain dx means life long meds dont loose hope, often once people get the right support, right therapy, and find the right coping mechanisms they can be free to choose whether or not they need medication to stay well.