Social Phobia & Psychotic episode

[GrottyGlenda]

Hiya all,

I used to suffer from Social Phobia a lot in my early twenties (spent two years not going out and trembling whenever I did go out and met people I knew). I saw a psychiatrist who didn't take the problem seriously at all.
Anyway then I moved away and mixed with a crowd that I didn't get social phobia with as they were friends of a family member who I was more at ease with. Also they were not my type of people at all, I 'despised' them a bit cos they were a bit thick (not nice at all, but I was v young at the time) Anyway this allowed me to be myself more and my social phobia went for a bit. But I was taking lots of drugs (cannabis and cocaine) and suddenly got a brief psychotic episode (voices telling me to do stuff, thinking I was being spied on, then thinking I was Jesus, the lot! 8O )

After a few months in mental ward, I was reinserted into society, pumped full of Solian/Amisulpride. I've cut down on it and it now works as an antidepressant. The result of thidsmedication is that I can function, though I'm still shy, blush a lot, and am unable to think and construct an intellingent argument when I'm in a group of people.

You might be wondering what I'm getting at?! What it is is that I've Googled 'Psychotic episode' a lot, as you can imagine. It says on most websites that such an episode can be the onset of schizophrenia. And Social Phobia/withdrwal from society is one of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, before the positive symptons such as hallucinations, hearing voices, etc...

Has anyone here seen a like between social phobia and schizophrenia or psychotic episodes? Just wondering if the social phobia was the forerunner of later psychotic problems.

Sorry if this seems a bit long winded. I've just discovered this forum, it's great, and there's lots of thing Isd like to ask

 

[Jodie-Tyler]

Hi,
I though I was psychotic, I still do a little. My therapist didn't take my SP seriously either.
What happened was, because I was avoiding contact with people so much, I became very lonely, and started to talk to myself as if there was another person in my head, so I'd refer to them as 'you'. "What do YOU think?"
And after that I heard voices, and I look the symptoms up online and it came under Brief Psychotic Disorder.

So yea, I DO think there is a link between SP and psychotic episodes.
What are your thoughts when you go through a psychotic episode?
Jodie-Tyler

 

[Hellhound]

I've had (and still have) bizarre episodes and voices... but i always thought it was a completely different thing. I honestly have no idea.

 

[spider04]

I've been doing a research lately and found that i relate a lot with schizotypal symptoms.

Schizotypal personality disorder can easily be confused with schizophrenia, which is characterized by intense psychosis, a severe mental state characterized by a loss of contact with reality. While people with schizotypal personalities may experience brief psychotic episodes with delusions or hallucinations, they are not as pronounced, frequent or intense as in schizophrenia.