psychotic depression symptoms

I am currently recovering from a severe depression with suicide ideation in which i apparently had psychotic symptoms. Has anyone else had psychosis without knowing what it was until speaking to your therapist about what was going on? and does anyone have any advice as to what to look for in oneself when psychosis starts?

psychotic depression can encompass a wide variety of symptoms. i treat people with "psychotic depressions" a lot. Depending on what symptoms people are experiencing, different medications will be used. People will often respond very quickly to antipsychotic meds (even within days). The deeper depressive symptoms may take longer to fully resolve but that does not mean you cannot get feeling much much better relatively quickly.

As others here have commented, a real psychotic episode, which is a very serious event, must occur in order for their to be a true 'bipolar I' diagnosis. The diagnostic 'bar' for labling someone as 'manic depressive' must be high, because of the risks of the medications that are needed to control this illness, among other factors.

Jaquta - I'm not sure what I'll do if I don't like the results from the psych consult. I suppose I could just continue treatment with my primary physician, as I think he could manage my complaints. I have looked up the dsm-iv for bipolar disorder, and it definitely doesn't match my complaints.

I have suggested she go and talk to a professional and possibly get on med. for depression. She is 20 years old and in college. Today she told me she felt like she was having a psychotic breakdown.What is this kind of breakdown?

I am a 31 year old married guy and I have been suffering from the following psychiatric symptoms since last 10 years.I have an underlying cause of depression bcoz of failing in the career front , actually being an engineering dropout with seeing no hope for the future and also being a stammerer / stutterer resulting in tremendous anxiety lasting since last 14 years or so.

Bipolar with psychotic features is not that rare. When a person has bipolar with psychotic features they have psychosis specifically during moodswings. When a person has schizoaffective as I do they experience psychosis all the time (as I did before my current recovery). The whole spectrum of bipolar to schizophrenia is linked up and they are just learning how.

Dear Sir, I am a 31 year old married guy and I have been suffering from the following psychiatric symptoms since last 10 years.I have an underlying cause of depression bcoz of failing in the career front , actually being an engineering dropout with seeing no hope for the future and also being a stammerer / stutterer resulting in tremendous anxiety lasting since last 14 years or so.

I had a history of depression and anxiety symptoms for 24 months prior to hospitalization. I was diagnosed at discharge with Axis 1 MDD, severe recurrent (without psychotic features). Axis 2 was deferred. Axis 3: orthopedic condition, partner relation problems. Follow up care consisted of psychotherapy and ssri. One year later I was hospitalized second time for three weeks after experiencing a panic attack/mental break down in response to several stressful events the week prior to admission.

If in some way you are aware what is occurring is not real it might potentially be part of anxiety disorder but a psychiatrist would have to make that distinction. Psychosis can occur in depression with psychotic features and sometimes in severe depression and other criteria as well. There is the concern of stigmatization as regards seeing a psychiatrist which is understandable but it would be worthwhile to follow up as they could provide greater help with this.

Can antipsychotics worsen depression? I mean giving antipsychotics to a person who has no psychotic features ?

Dear Sir, I am a 31 year old married guy and I have been suffering from the following psychiatric symptoms since last 10 years.I have an underlying cause of depression bcoz of failing in the career front , actually being an engineering dropout with seeing no hope for the future and also being a stammerer / stutterer resulting in tremendous anxiety lasting since last 14 years or so.

When I was younger before my diagnosis I had similar psychotic features and I was treated for major depression with psychotic features. I was treated with anti depressants and anti pyschotics. Unfortunately the anti d's triggered rapid cycling and lithium was then added to the mix. If it helps I no longer hear voices, it stopped around age 20. Now during an episode I have classic bipolar features.

The only form of depression that can cause psychotic episodes, is Bi-polar Depressive Disorder but typical clinical depression that can result from severe anxiety, is not in the psychosis category

Not every breakdown is psychotic. I had a complete mental breakdown about 16 years ago or so which lead to 3 years of crushing depression - my illness course leaves me prone to this type of breakdown. However not being on meds? Dont know - i went nearly 15 years not on meds and i thought i was fine until I wasnt and went psychotic manic, so you might be fine for a long time as well. And I wasnt fine, I was hypomanic and looking back had at least 3 mini breakdowns and burnouts in that time.

Wow you guys are waaaaay off melancholic depression is a more severe form of depression which is psychotic in nature. It gets it's name because it is depression coupled with an extreme apathy and inability to feel joy when say complimented etc. It's always worse in the mornings. I highly recommend that if you think you have this you speak to a dr immediately as some people (myself Included) suffer from psychotic episodes of intense fear and rage.

Antipsychotics are often used as mood stabilizers, and some of them are really very effective for that purpose. Many patients who have never had psychotic symptoms (patients with depression which has not responded to just an antidepressant, for instance) are finding that the addition of an "atypical" or newer antipsychotic can be helpful. This is an example of the problem with names in pharmacology.

And if you have suicidal urges you need to see a psychiatrist right away. Depression with psychotic features is when a person has psychotic thoughts only during mood fluctuations. With schizoaffective disorder psychotic thoughts or auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) can occur at any time. But as to how to look at it I'd say look at it as I do, I am a person with a psychiatric disability and I need treatment as part of my recovery.

You want to do a cross-switch slowly bringing in the natural benzo to avoid any withdrawal symptoms. 3 Ativan a day for a relatively long period of time could lead to severe withdrawal symptoms even seizures.

My Psych. has me on all three, plus Klonopin, am not getting anybetter and refuse to take anti-psychotic meds.

Within FEP patients, decreases in cortisol and the cortisol/DHEAS ratio over time were directly related to the improvement in depression . . . negative . . . and psychotic symptoms . . . . Perceived stress significantly correlated with DHEAS . . . and the cortisol/DHEAS ratio . . . in controls, but not patients, possibly reflecting an impaired hormonal response to stress in FEP patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.

It sounds like he possibly has severe depression. Some people with severe depression also have psychotic features (depression with psychotic features). It could be worth considering what happened a month ago to trigger this current state. I think encourage him to see a psychiatrist and perhaps look to follow that up with psychotherapy. You could ask him if he would like you to attend his appointment with him as a support person, etc.

I was diagnosed with Depression with psychotic features, not any Bipolar disorder Anyway I was on Prozac with Wellbutrin, then had a relapse and they took me off both and started me on Abilfy only. Is this a normal procedure or should I also be on some low dose antidepressant in your opinion ? Thank you very much for your time.

With bipolar 1 you get full blown mania and major depression, with bipolar 2 you get hypomania and major depression. cyclothimia fluctuates between minor depression and hypomania. Bipolar nos is where they put you when you obviously show some symptoms of bipolar disorder but they do not know which classification to put you in. There is also schizoaffective disorder which can have some symptoms simmilar to bipolar disorder.

I think you would mean depression with psychotic features and like most psychiatric disabilities it lasts a lifetime as does the need for medication. Recovery rates depend on the individual person. As I've posted medications that are more specifically targeted to the right receptors and will have a better response rate and safer side effect profile are in development so treatment will improve in the coming years.

Psychotic depression symptoms

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