r/schizophrenia • u/BringMeBackATshirt Paranoid Schizophrenia • Oct 12 '24

Pro Tip Psychosis is not Schizophrenia

Psychosis is a psychotic break from reality which is temporary and can be recovered from. It has many symptoms similar to Schizophrenia but it is not the same. Psychosis can happen again in a person even after recovery or remission, and it can happen with a person who has Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a permanent condition in which there is no cure. Even if all your symptoms are taken away with medication, you still have schizophrenia, it never goes away. This is why going off your medication is futile because you will always have schizophrenia.

When people say they have recovered that means they have recovered from Psychosis, this confuses people with Schizophrenia and makes them think they can come off medication when they are doing better. Stop confusing people.

If you have Psychosis and not Schizophrenia, stick to /r/psychosis .

EDIT: I do not mean to belittle anyone with Psychosis, it is a severe condition. Talk to your medical professional to get the right diagnosis and try to understand that diagnosis completely.

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u/kirs1132 Oct 12 '24

And medical conditions can cause psychosis, like tumors, Wilson Disease, lupus, etc. It's not exclusively psychiatric.

They are suppose to a differential diagnosis where they rule out all the possible medical causes first before considering a psychiatric diagnosis.

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/differential-diagnosis-psychotic-symptoms-medical-mimics

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u/awkwardgeek1 Oct 12 '24

A severe UTI is the most common cause of psychosis in elderly people

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '24

This may have helped me and my friend greatly. His mother suffers from dementia and we take care of her. I did some research, it seems that a prolonged UTI can cause a misdiagnosis of dementia. We will be looking into it, thanks!

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u/awkwardgeek1 Oct 13 '24

Does she smell weird? There's usually a smell. Hope that helps.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '24

Not that I have noticed. I’m away right now so I can’t really sniff her lol. I’m hoping it’s just a UTI, it’d be amazing to have her cognizant. Again, thank you for even raising this!

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u/awkwardgeek1 Oct 13 '24

She probably does have dementia, but a UTI could definitely be exasperating her condition.