Schizoaffective Disorder

ricicle

Hi there,


I suffer with Schizoaffective Disorder which is quite bad at the minute. I am hearing voices and feeling pretty depressed. I told my Psychiatrist this at my last appointment and I was increased on one of my meds and told to keep distracted. The thing is I was sectioned last November, and I am terrified of this happening again. I am afraid of my symptoms but I am more afraid to ask for help. I honestly feel like my section has traumatised me. I think about it often and my heart pounds and my hands go sweaty, I want to cry. I am terrfied of it happeneing again. So where do I go from here? I don't know what advice I am looking for or if anyone could say anything that will help but I just had to write it out.

maxsmum

If you keep in touch with your psychiatrist/Community Mental Health team they will know when it's time for hospital; it sounds like they are trying to avoid it.
They will of course aim that you come in voluntarily if the increase in meds doesn't calm things down.
'Section' is a last resort.
It sounds like you are really in touch with your symptoms which is great so I doubt it will come to sectioning if you need a stay in hospital again.

PressRun

I think it is difficult here for anyone to give you advice. You have an illness that requires careful treatment and I think you should stay in touch with your psychiatrist and take their advice. Bear in mind that the medical professionals who care for mentally ill people take sectioning very seriously. It's not done willy-nilly. They want to give you the skills you need to cope by yourself and live a fulfilling life with your condition outside of a hospital environment. If that is not possible at this time, then you may need to go to hospital, but I wouldn't see that as something that is scary. It's something to help you to get back on track and back to a place where you can function on your own.

If you go over to the long-term illness forum, there is a thread there with a lot of people who are dealing with mental illnesses and other such conditions. You may be able to get some things off your chest there.

ricicle

Thank you both for your kind responses. I am doing my best to stay out of hospital but ultimately I feel like that’s the way it’s going but at least it will be on a voluntary basis. I will check out the other forum for support, thank you

R x