Just a quick question...

[Evilbob333]

My big thing at the moment is a fear of schizophrenia and madness. I know this is a very common fear amongst us anxiety sufferers. I'm not getting overly anxious about this thought and accepting it for what it is...a symptom of my anxiety. But even with my acceptance i still get the 'what if?'. I wish i was brave enough to read up about schizophrenia to 'prove' to myself that i don't have it but i'm afraid i'll read something and think 'shit...thats me!'.
So my question is, can anyone give me a safe, non anxiety provoking explanation of what schizophrenia is? Or do i need to know? am i just fuelling this in myself? I have never had hallucinations or heard voices (touch wood!) and don't believe the FBI are tracking me from space! Although i do worry that one day i may start to believe these things.
Dumbly enough this worry started because i used to work in the same office as a team who worked with people with early onset psychosis and i picked up a basic idea of what the illness was, but it was always a bit enigmatic and i never fully researched it...a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Funny though, because most of the people they worked with lived quite indepently and recovery rate was high...so maybe its not as terribly scary as i have pictured it to be?
This fear has recently because worse because of a UK soap opera called hollyoaks in which a character has schizophrenia. I guess thats what i get for watching crap TV. Although its worth it for the ladies!
Some quick question this turned out to be!
Thanks for any help/info!

[Obelysk]

One day I was panicking enough to the point that I thought I was a schizo. lol So I went and read what it was and to my relief you can't possibly be a schizophrenic for one point alone if anything: You wouldn't know/realize that you are turning into a schizophrenic, those who are schizophrenic simply don't realize that they are schizophrenic.

[Aaron]

It's a common complaint/symptom among people with panic disorder. It's a rationalization of seemingly irrational reactions and in a way I can see why we'd jump to that conclusion. While we're sometimes/often afraid of what's not there or maybe we're afraid of what's there to an excess, what we don't experience is seeing things that aren't there or going randomly into unaccountable trance states (catatonia). There was a man who had the disorder who worked at a burger shop I used to go to. He'd be sweeping the floor and all of a sudden FREEZE for minutes at a time. Sometimes he'd start talking to people that weren't there... It's a bizarre disorder but very different from panic/anxiety.

Remember that most panic/anxiety comes not from irrationality but excessive rationality. Too sane, as it were. We have to find a reason for everything, including why we're so afraid. That's why researching your condition can be detrimental to your personal progress- looking for causes instead of ignoring or treating the anxiety itself.

I'm glad that you've settled on being not schizophrenic. :)

[Carla]

Hello!
Personally I find researching anxiety and being informed about it is not detrimental. It has really helped me being better informed about it. I was much more afraid of anxiety before I began to research it. I am reading Claire Weekes book and that is really helping. When I get anxiety symptoms now I know what is happening and therefore it is less scary. I agree that dwelling too much on it all can be a bad thing but I think you have to get the balance right. I dont think you can ignore anxiety fully as with the best will in the world when anxiety is really causing you to feel uncomfortable in whatever way, you can go with the flow and let it happen and not react too much to it, but I dont believe you can ignore it totally.

[evxil]

I get the feeling that I am going to crazy often too...specifically schizophrenia. However the majority of the time I know that i am not. It can be very strange.