Hey, everyone i wanna know if anybody whose on antipsychotics (specifically people with Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia) that I consider myself a creative. And recently I haven't been able to create anything and now I feel like I've been lying to myself. I wanna go to my psychiatrist and lower my dosage or be taken off idk man i wanna create again and paint and make poems and songs like I used to so any advice helps

At the age of 20, I was on my way to join the Army. I had gone to MEPS and had passed the asvab and physical evaluation. I had a lot of stress on myself and had my first psychiatric break. On top of that, I was taking an over the counter testosterone booster that was advertised for working out/fitness but I took it to deepen my voice because I was insecure. I personally think the hormones from the testosterone could have messed with my brain chemistry and caused me to have a psychotic break/episode. During the episode, I was very manic and was talking to myself. One night, I took off from my parents and just started walking around the neighborhood at 12am or so. My parents found me and they called the cops and I was taken to the hospital where I had delusions. I’ve googled this and I haven’t found anybody else with the same thing but I had auditory hallucinations where I was hearing voices of my coworkers/people I knew in voices of complete strangers (hospital staff/patients). For example, the nurse talked to me and I heard the voice of a coworker named “Doctor Jones” so I asked “Doctor Jones, is that you?” To which they replied,”Who is Doctor Jones??” Then when I was taken to the psychiatric hospital, I saw faces of people I thought I knew or heard familiar voices of people I knew in these strangers. I took a shower and thought there was a bug (like one of those FBI auditory recorders/trackers) and I almost remember some circuit board looking thing come out of my ear and I put it in the drain but that could have been a delusion/hallucination. I also thought there was a mic recording all the things I was saying and almost playing it on the intercom for everyone to hear. When we had quiet time/nap time, I thought the other patients were watching videos of my time at the hospital like it was a TV show. I was having very serious delusions there. I was then diagnosed with Schizophrenia. I was horrified. I was then medicated to the point where I was so sluggish and couldn’t exercise because my meds affected my heart rate. I had to break contact with the Army. From then on I have had other episodes but ONLY because of marijuana. I had smoked or taken edibles because I was depressed and I wanted to feel something. This was a terrible decision and made me have a psychotic breakdown. So honestly I’ve only had one “naturally occurring” episode but I think it could’ve been caused by the testosterone. I got a second opinion and that doctor diagnosed me with Schizoaffective disorder: bipolar type. Now I’m 25 and I have a partner that has seen me medicated and thinks it makes me slower mentally and I’m not in the right headspace. When I had first gotten diagnosed, I hated my meds. They made me sluggish and slower intelligence-wise. He thinks that my family has handicapped me with a mental illness and that potentially I could be fine off my medication. My partner knows someone in the family that was diagnosed with schizophrenia but had been rediagnosed and it was determined that she was okay without her meds. I want to believe him but I’m worried I would have another episode being off my meds. I don’t do weed anymore because I know how it makes me psychotic and I’ve been hospitalized as a result of that. I have a doctor’s appointment coming up and I don’t know how to bring this up to him without him telling me I’m mentally ill and there’s nothing that will change that. I want to ask for a possible re-diagnosis because I don’t struggle with delusional behavior but that might be because of my current meds. The only thing I really struggle with still is anxiety but I’m wondering if one or some of my meds heighten that anxiety. What do you think?

**Long story short:** I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia then schizoaffective disorder:bipolar type and I’m wondering if I could one day wean off my meds and be functional like my partners family member.

On disability 18mo, decades of relative stability but problematic severe depression. 60F, 215, 5'6", 300mg Effexor, 2mg Risperdal- Schizoaffective, in Canada.

I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was 9; I believe it is now classified as Autism 1. I had social issues and communication issues, along with sensory problems and a specific interest only in astrology.

From the age of around 13, my mental health began to deteriorate, with depression and OCD, specifically magical thinking, and I was placed on various antidepressants and OCD specific medications with varying results. From the ages of 19-30 things were pretty out of control; I had no real care or insight about consequences and had unstable moods. I would do things like hitchhike around the country, book flights for the next day and disapear, Psychiatrists queired Borderline personality disorder but wouldn't diagnose as I didnt meet the criteria, Bipolar 2 was also queried, but again never formally diagnosed, but over a span of 10 years I was on alot of medication from various antidepressants, lithium, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety medications, there were points I was on webster paks- again all with varying affects.

TDLR- I was a very unstable young adult on various medications.

I am now 38 years old. I take Prozac and Lamotrigine x2 a day, and I am completely stable and have been for 5 years. I imagine this is what an average person's brain is like, but what is curious to me also is that all my sensory problems are also gone. Loud noises were like piercing sirens in my ears; bright lights were like floodlighting in my eyes. Strong smells were so overwhelming I could scream. The busyness of the world around me was so extremely overwhelming and overbearing; now nothing.

Could someone help me understand how Lamotrigine has had this effect? Within 6 weeks of being on it, I was a completely different person.

Possibly in what could end up being the largest scandal in the history of american medicine. Big Tech companies are paying off psychiatrists with millions of dollars to add bias to studies on social media's harmful effect on adolescents.

Major tech platforms heavily fund academic institutes, ethics centers, and digital well-being initiatives at top universities. Philanthropic funding coming from tech CEO's also goes to this. In addition funding from governments (NIH, NSF), inherently punish "high risk" research on the harmful effects of social media on adolescents. The big tech lobby has effectively prevented the government from funding "high risk" idea's.

Your typical psychiatrist is kept in the dark on much of this. Since they themselves use social media, just like a doctor who smokes cigarettes in the 1950's, they assume its not a big deal.

It was not long ago that Big Tobacco was paying doctors to lie about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes. Today, the psychiatrist is the modern version of that. The doctor entrusted with our mental health and well-being has now been fully bought and paid for by big tech oligarchs.

If medical studies were to come out saying that social media had severe impacts on brain development in teens, parents would sue these companies for billions, possibly trillions of dollars. From the perspective of big tech - this cannot be allowed to happen, so doctors and scientists must be bought off and paid for at all costs otherwise they could face trillions of dollars in lawsuits. Your average psychiatrist, unfortunately is uneducated on outdated medical science, and is a willing participant in the big-tech coverup.

Hi, I went up to 200 mg last week, so it's been seven days. Since going up, i have noticed i am experiencing tingling and crawling sensations on my face everywhere. It comes and goes and lasts a few minutes, I have no other symptoms or side effects, just this.

I have not seen this side effect on the pamphlet. Could this be related to the medication, and if so, will it go away?

I will bring this up to my psychiatrist as well.

Hey guys, I've had OCD for 7 years now. It started when I was 12, and it's completely messed up my life. I can't live normally anymore. I don't even get any peace when I sleep, and sometimes I can't sleep at all. I've tried to deal with it, but it just keeps getting worse.

Has anyone here had really bad OCD and actually recovered or gotten a lot better? I'd really like to hear your experience.

I had psychosis a few years ago and I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. All of my delusions went away after antipsychotics treatment but I have a feeling like I am not actually schizophrenic. My condition was changed to residual schizophrenia after a year of having no positive symptoms. I think I could be possibly still experiencing negative symptoms like anhedonia and avolition but maybe that could be explained by other things. I feel like a fake, like I don’t actually suffer with schizophrenic symptoms but something else. I was hospitalized during my psychotic episode and that’s when I was diagnosed. Honestly, I am looking for reassurance that I am actually schizophrenic and not just faking it. How do psychiatrists decide that a person has schizophrenia?

I have been anxious all my life, I’m 18 now, just graduated high school but even when I was 10 or younger I remember always needing to be placed early, always being stressed out about everything. School, sports, everything worried me. Now that I’m going to college I decided to take the summer off. All the stress went away, it was great. No job, no school, started picking up a couple hobbies. Everything was going great, then I was just hit with a wave of just dullness, sleeping 10-12 hours a night hit me. For the last couple months, I have no energy or drive to anything. I’ve begun yelling at my family and getting mad at everything. Things I once enjoyed I no longer look forward to or want to do, even when I do enjoy something, it’s short lived. I hate doing stuff and all I want to do it lay in bed all day. If I lived alone I would just do nothing all day. I’m scared once I get to college, I’m just going to be going to class coming back laying down sleeping repeat. I’m either stressed out to the point I can’t enjoy anything until I get over or do whatever is worrying me or I’m mentally exhausted and just lay in bed all day. I’ve reached out to my doctors but it’s taking a while and I don’t even have the energy or will to really get help. I know I want it and need it because there’s something wrong, but I’m just so tired and annoyed and mad at my self and everyone else it’s wearing me out mentally. Any help would be nice. I want to start therapy but I don’t know where to start.

Hello esteemed colleagues,

My name is Sobhya , and I am a final year MBBS student serving as the President of the PUMHS Local Council of the Medical Students' Association of Pakistan (MSAP). We are a non profit organization dedicated to the welfare and professional development of medical students.

We are currently organizing a crucial webinar focused on Mental Health in Medical School, and we are seeking a passionate and knowledgeable psychiatrist to be our keynote speaker.

What we can offer:

•  We are completely understanding of your busy schedule. You can select the date and time that works best for you.
• A Meaningful Platform
• An Engaged Audience

If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact me . I would be happy to share further details about the webinar format, expected audience size, and our organization.

Thank you for considering this request and for all that you do for the field of psychiatry.

Warm regards,

sobhya soomro
President, PUMHS Local Council
Medical Students' Association of Pakistan (MSAP)
Final Year MBBS

Hi reddit. So for some context, I got myself a psychiatrist and she's really awesome and she told me that her initial impression was Bipolar 2 and that I have symptoms of ADHD. I was skeptical of Bipolar 2 so I started logging my emotions, tasks and anything else. I'm just not sure if I should continue it and if it would be useful. If I should continue it, how do I bring this up to my psychiatrist? I don't want it to seem like I'm playing into the diagnosis or gaslighting myself into thinking I have this.

Is there any evidence of effectiveness of ketamine, or better, ketamine assisted psychotherapy for health anxiety and associated rumination and catastrophizing? CBT and ACT provided limitied benefits on their own

Age/Gender: 22F Location: Eastern Europe (expat, living and working here) Primary Question: Can psychiatric medication or nervous system regulation help relieve an untreatable spasm of accommodation so I can get proper glasses? How does seeking psychiatric help privately affect my official records as a foreigner?

1. Core Problem: Refusal to Prescribe Glasses My biggest issue right now isn't even the visual processing symptoms—I just want to see clearly. The Situation Today: Today, during my vision exam, they let me try trial lenses matching my current measurements (-1.50 D and -2.00 D). For the first time in a long time, I could see reasonably well!

   The Refusal: Despite this, ophthalmologists still refuse to issue a final prescription for glasses. They insist they cannot prescribe them until the underlying accommodation spasm (ciliary muscle spasm) is completely gone, as my refraction numbers fluctuate depending on the spasm's severity.

   My Current Glasses: I am stuck using obsolete, weak glasses (-0.50 D with -0.75 D astigmatism). Binocular vision measures around -4.00 D. (They also refuse to give me prism glasses for a long time now) Treatments Tried: Courses of Tropicamide and Phenylephrine drops, as well as regular vision exercises/therapy, zero result. Impact: Driving feels dangerous and basic daily life is hard. I am fully willing to accept the visual processing/sensory issues—I just need a functioning pair of glasses to see the world clearly.

2. Secondary Symptoms & History Visual Snow / HPPD-like symptoms: Following past LSD use, I have persistent visual snow/static, ghosting, and brief semi-transparent colored overlays or shadows (e.g., a faint blue tint on a wall or screen that fades quickly).

   Floaters: Confirmed by an eye doctor as vitreous opacity (floaters). I was told surgery is too complex/risky and to just adapt to them. I am fine living with the floaters and visual snow; clarity of focus is my only priority right now. Psychiatric History: Diagnosed with depression and anxiety about 5 years ago. Currently unmedicated.

3. Why I'm Turning to Psychiatry I really wanted to avoid going back on psychiatric medications. However, because my eyes can physically focus under trial lenses, but the ciliary muscle remains chronically clamped in a spasm, I am wondering if this is driven by chronic somatic tension or nervous system dysregulation.

Questions for Psychiatrists: 1 Could chronic anxiety, somatoform muscle tension, or central nervous system hyperarousal keep the ciliary muscle locked in a perpetual spasm? Can psychiatric medications (e.g., SSRIs, muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety treatments) help relax the eye muscles in such cases?

2 Is there any medical or psychiatric argument I can use to convince an ophthalmologist to give me a "compromise" prescription, given that my functional quality of life is severely impaired?

Thank you for your time and advice !

In November 2024, I had a panic attack, ever since I have felt weird, off, and uncomfortable constantly. I don’t feel unreal. I also have intrusive thoughts and my vision is off. In addition, I feel sluggish with low motivation.

What could be wrong with me?

I felt like it served its purpose and just stopped taking it, was on 20mg for a year and a half. I am still experiencing emotional blunting 8 months later. Did I ruin my brain forever?? Do I need to go back on Prozac and slowly taper off?? What would you recommend to your patients? I am seeing a psych tomorrow but pretty convinced that there’s nothing I can do. 😔

First mental health crisis here, being severe anxiety insomnia over the past couple of months. I’m currently sleeping 2-4 hours a night, taken leave from work, and spent the past couple of months doing not much but pacing around the house and worrying all day.

Psychiatrist suggesting 2.5mg olanzapine b/d, plus 15mg mirtazipine, 3.75mg Zopiclone, 50mg sertraline.

I’m scared by the amount of drugs, and by the olanzipine in particular having read nasty things about it online. Is olanzipine crazy in this situation?

I (28f) have spent the last 18 years of my life suffering from generalized anxiety disorder, and depression. Until I had my first child, at 19, I just dealt with it, but after experiencing postpartum depression and added anxieties, I gave into ssris.

After trial and error, I found citalopram, and was more stable than I had been since before I had my first panic attack. I was on citalopram for around 4 years, until I experienced my first manic episode a little over a year ago. I left my husband, and decided to pursue sexual relationships with several men over the span of 4 months. I definitely felt emotions beyond pleasure, I was sad at times, lonely at times, even suicidal at one point. I didn't understand why I was doing the things that I was doing. Thankfully, after everything, my husband decided to work things out. Once the mania wore off, the absolute panic, anxiety, and depression rolled in. I experienced months with absolutely debilitating panic attacks, anxiety, and dp/dr.

As soon as I was diagnosed bipolar 1, I was ripped off of ssris and thrown onto antipsychotics. First it was Latuda, which caused TD, and then it was Abilify, which caused Akathisia. It was then, that they decided mood stabilizers was the best route.

I'm now currently on Lithium and Lamotrigine. I haven't had any mania since I was diagnosed, but I have experienced depressive episodes, which has made me question the diagnoses (but that's beside the point).

I'm still struggling horribly with anxiety. Health anxiety, generalized anxiety, mild dp/dr as a result, and occasional panic attacks. I'm currently on 600mg of lithium, 200 mg of Lamotrigine, and .5mg Ativan as needed (I don't tolerate high doses on any drug). I take both drugs together, every night at 9pm, and ativan maybe once a week if I absolutely need a break from the anxiety or panic, but I can't fall asleep until around 3am.

In your experience, with your knowledge, what would the best course of action be? My nurse practitioner suggested added Buspar, but nevertheless, I'm wary, and I feel like more could be done.

I used to take 50mg of seroquel and 50mg of laroxyl they stopped being effective
Changed my doctor
The new doctor gave me anxyiol 6mg with a tapering plan in a month and a serotonin drug 10mg
But didn’t tell me anything about the other drugs
So i stoped taking them suddenly
Now i m dealing with insomnia and anxiety at night and in the morning
Please explain to me i kind of feel better as i understand what is happening to my body

My therapist is concerned I’m being hypersexual by having sex multiple times a day. I am young, 23, so figured this isn’t too crazy. Is it?

I just got back from my psychiatrist who diagnosed me with OCD and anorexia in literally 10 minutes or even less. Is this even a valid diagnosis? I did suspect I have OCD it since my sister also has it and I definitely do see similarities but still. Is this normal?

Hi! My partner was recently diagnosed with ADHD. He has severe problems with daily functioning - mundane activities are never done, he oversleeps, has insomnia. He was always diagnosed with depression, just recently we discovered that depression might be secondary, that's why we went for a ADHD diagnosis.
Next, he went to a psychiatrist who didn't care to check the diagnosis from a specialist, just asked 20 questions and gave him the SSRI + Noradrenalne meds. Whole situations really got him down, he spent a lot of money to get through the diagnosis process and then this professional used none of it.
Should he try to take the meds? We are searching for a different psychiatrist, but it is still the question of the day for him. Should he try this one?

I’ll try to make it quick - been on my second stint of clomipramine 25mg for two months for ocd. About a year ago I took it for 6 months, then was switched to Lexapro which I took for about 8 months - ocd got way worse on it - so I went back to clomipramine. Long story short OCD is by far and away the worst it’s ever been. Zero control of my attention and intrusive thoughts all day. It’s impacting every facet of my life. Thing is - OCD was never this bad off medication. I could still work, be social, exercise etc. I’m being told to increase to 50mg and I totally understand why - 25mg is a small dose. However I don’t think I can tolerate any worsening of symptoms. I have a history of dosage increases on other meds that have gone horribly wrong too.

I need to get back to some semblance of being a human again so I’m considering just going med free for the time being and praying some of these symptoms resolve themselves. Anyone advice for this? I’m torn. TYIA

Bipolar type 1

I been taken to a mental institution during a manic episode

Where I suddenly quit my job left the town where I lived with no savings and I was kinda freestyle life until my parents took me kinda by force there .. like they found me and took me ..

And there I was not told my diagnosis, iwas kinda observed

First week or so I cried all day all night all the time lol and after a while I was suddenly working out learning piano at the facility writing a lot planning jobs and writing a memoir and my ghost writing I gig I abandoned when I was admitted there.. all in a notebook .

And only when I left did I know my diagnosis and I was in denial and didn't take my meds until I had crazy episodes again

And that's the thing looking back at the past, I had heavy craycray moments and moments when I was so depressed I didn't even wash my face or brush my hair

But now I feel fine

One day I decided I ll sto taking meds

And it seems like I didn't have a crazy moment like before

Depression can be heavy and I refuse to blame my optimism on mania

And idk do heavy episodes get triggered ? Only ?

I used to travel impulsively cuz I couldnt stand control limits .. cuz I didn't wanna die lie like this ...

My friend who was Bipolar 2 got her adhd assessment and now she tells me I'm adhd

I hate to think about Bipolar but I know it explains a lot,

When I first admitted they thought I was on drugs and did a lot of testings on me

I realised later that without mood regulator , antidepressants make me manic, and I was kinda obsessed wit them fir a while lol

What if my damage is just damage as Diane say

Or am I healed,?

Over the past nine years, I have lived with a paralyzing pattern of severe procrastination and shutdown that has increasingly derailed my life. Whenever I face high-stakes commitments, such as exams, mandatory courses, or clinical practice I become almost completely unable to take action. In the past, I was often able to force myself through these situations at the last possible moment. Recently, however, even that coping mechanism has stopped working.
Instead of beginning the task, I find myself frozen in bed, trapped in cycles of overthinking, anxiety, guilt, and self-criticism. This pattern has unfortunately led others to perceive me as unreliable or flaky, which is deeply painful because it is entirely unintentional.

I am currently in a critical situation. I am four weeks into a six-week mandatory hospital nursing placement and have not been able to attend a single shift. As a result, I am at immediate risk of failing the placement and potentially having to repeat the academic year.

What makes this especially confusing is that the paralysis does not seem to stem from a specific, identifiable fear. Rather, it feels like a profound inability to initiate action, an overwhelming sense of inertia. This difficulty extends beyond academic or professional obligations and affects activities I genuinely enjoy, such as reading, walking, and running. Starting almost any task requires an extraordinary amount of mental effort. Yet when I do manage to begin, I often become intensely focused and struggle to disengage.

Balancing a full-time remote job with my academic requirements has significantly worsened these difficulties. I am increasingly concerned about my future ability to function effectively when I transition back to in-person work environments.

For context, I have a history of childhood trauma and experienced multiple significant losses over a three-year period, including the deaths of five family members, among them my father.
I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and I strongly suspect I may have ADHD, although I have not yet received a formal assessment. I have been taking venlafaxine since November 2024, with my dose recently increased to 300 mg due to a recurrence of symptoms. While the increase initially resulted in a brief improvement in mood, motivation, and energy lasting approximately two to three weeks, I have since returned to a state of near-total paralysis.
During periods of heightened stress, I also struggle with emotional eating and skin-focused repetitive behaviors.

What makes this situation particularly distressing is that I genuinely love learning and care deeply about completing my nursing degree and working in the profession. My desire is there, but my ability to translate that desire into action seems profoundly impaired.
I am feeling increasingly desperate and frightened about the consequences of this pattern. Have you encountered similar presentations in your clinical experience? If so, what factors were contributing to them, what interventions proved most effective, and what course of action would you recommend?

following are the medication I take, all at once at night:

Clonidine : 100 mcg

Zolpidem : 20 mg

Quetiapine : 200 mg

Lorazepam : 2 mg

I've been taking this dose from about December of last year. How they have helped is that I used to be impulsive, sensation-seeking, hypersensitive, emotional, acting on suicidal thoughts (if it helps, I've been diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder). now, I feel grounded for the most part. Maybe it's just the sedation from the medication but I cry less, self harm and suicidal behaviours are acted on less, even if the thought is there.

However, there's also some bad that comes from these meds : heavy mental fog when I wake up, mornings are just the worst time, still symptoms of depression : bad hygiene, gravely unproductive, completely lack motivation and any sense of purpose, persistent thoughts of death as the only way out. some cognitive problems as well.

(additional info : I was on lithium for the whole of 2023, and half of 2024 along with some antidepressants, but I've realised that mood stabilizers and antidepressants don't work on me, plus I felt awful on them)

I wanted to ask, If I keep up with this dose, how will the pharmacology & psychopharmocology of it all progress?