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Misdiagnosis? Any experience with this?

hadley

hadley

New Member
Hi everyone,
I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place, but figured a great first step was to introduce myself.

I happened on this site through the process of researching a book I'm working on. Since I don't believe in accidents I found it curious that I found myself here. I strongly believe in reincarnation and believe that I have lived before, many times probably. I have been told that I have an 'old soul' and though I'm not entirely sure what that means, I was not surprised to hear it. But I didn't end up here because of my own experiences.

The fictional story I am writing is based on a character who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but this is a misdiagnosis. The truth is he is experiencing periods in his life when he relives events from his past lives. Sometimes it occurs as dreams, but other times, in his waking life, he feels as if he is back in those places from his past lives, and reacts as if he is in the past.

So, I guess what I'm getting at is could this be possible? Based on what I've learned about both subjects I believe it is possible, but guess I felt the need to go to the source for confirmation. I understand that this may be a sensitive subject and I respect that completely. If a moderator lets me know that I will not pursue this line of questioning.

If there are people here who have opinions or experiences about this that they care to share in a less public forum feel free to pm me.

In closing, I must say I am enjoying this site very much. I was thrilled to find so many people who understand and are willing to look at all the possibilities this world has to offer.

Hadley
 
Hello Hadley and welcome. We welcome questions and relevant discussion. We do wish to insure the confidentiality of our members and in that regard the forum is constantly monitored and the solicitation of stories is not allowed. But if, as you say, you yourself are a believer and your questions are based on that...you've come to the right place, ask away. Your question:

The fictional story I am writing is based on a character who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but this is a misdiagnosis. The truth is he is experiencing periods in his life when he relives events from his past lives. Sometimes it occurs as dreams, but other times, in his waking life, he feels as if he is back in those places from his past lives, and reacts as if he is in the past.
So, I guess what I'm getting at is could this be possible? Based on what I've learned about both subjects I believe it is possible, but guess I felt the need to go to the source for confirmation. I understand that this may be a sensitive subject and I respect that completely. If a moderator lets me know that I will not pursue this line of questioning.
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This is a fair question as it is relevant to no one specific and there maybe members who want to comment.
You'll find there are a number of writers here, yours truly included. Thank you for joining us.


Tinkerman
 
Misdiagnosis? Any experience with this?


Thank you Tinkerman, for your kind welcome and helpful suggestions. I believe I will be a 'regular' around the site for some time.


Thanks again,


Hadley
 
Misdiagnosis? Any experience with this?


I do not think that the scenario you mention could happen. A person who actually suffers from schizophrenia has no control over their visualisations. Regression is not at all like hallucinating. You are totally in control at all times and never lose touch with reality. A flashback is short lived and would not lead to difficulties in handling life . In my flashback it only lasted seconds, too short a period for people to notice anything amiss.


If the person is having such dramatic past life flashbacks , they may worry about being " normal" and the experience takes them outside their comfort zone but they still have the ability to remain cognisant of their surroundings to pursue coming to understand it . They will remain able to handle their daily activities. A person with schizophrenia is at the mercy of their biochemistry and that would be something that the people advocating for the persons health would be able to see by how the person handles themselves.


Me = I have had a flashback, have had a drug induced hallucination and have a brother with schizophrenia.
 
Welcome hadley :) I'm looking forward to your participation, glad you found us, hope you enjoy your time here.


Chris :)
 
possible multiple personality?


Hi soulfriendly,


I appreciate your response so much. I guess what I envision with my character is that he actually 'flips' (for lack of a better word) from who he is in the present to who he was in a past life. I see him as actually believing that he is someone from the past. In his case a 16th century monk and polish adolescent during WWII, (so far).


I guess a further question I have is would it be possible for someone to have confusion over the present life they are living and their past lives. If this were possible, isn't it possible that it might be misdiagnosed/mislabeled schizophrenia?


From what I have read on the forums so far, it seems that there are connections between lives that people live, whether they be connections to physical places in the world, or other souls they may have known in more than one lifetime.


Hadley
 
Misdiagnosed


Just stopped by to see what's up and saw this question -


totally, I am positive that is what they do - misdiagnose. Did you know psychs vote by hand on made up "disease", it is not a science. Though, a way to get insurance to pay and increase stock. So many are being exposed lately.


Imagine having a young kid telling things he has done in the past and knows information adults are sure he should not know at his age. I am sure every child could be labeled schiz for doing such a thing if the parent didn't know better and let the child just tell, let him get it out of his system so he can get on with life.


I am sure glad my parents didn't get scared when we told them stuff! I even had my mom mixed up with another mom this time around, and told her something I knew but she said that is not true! Are you crazy? Years later I realized it was a different mom.
 
Welcome Hadley,

I guess a further question I have is would it be possible for someone to have confusion over the present life they are living and their past lives. If this were possible, isn't it possible that it might be misdiagnosed/mislabeled schizophrenia?
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No, I don't believe so. Schizophrenics have hallucinations - they are often violent and unable to differentiate between what is real and what is not. They hear voices in their head telling them to do things - and these "urges" are uncontrollable. Oprah recently did a story on a little girl named Jani - and I think if you click on the link and watch the story, you will see that there is no way this child is remembering a past life - she is mentally ill.


People with schizophrenia have perceptions of reality that are strikingly different from the reality seen and shared by others around them - and in part because of the unusual realities they experience, people with schizophrenia may behave very differently at various times. For example sometimes they are distant, detached or pre-occupied and may sit rigidly in one place for hours. Other times they may move about constantly, always occupied, appearing wide-awake, vigilant, and alert.


As to your possible multiple personality question - that is completely different from schizophrenia and it is now referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by two or more identities (called alters or self-states) that alternate (personality) and control behavior. The "alters" are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily, and function more or less independently of each other. The unity of consciousness, by which we identify our selves, is said to be absent. Another symptom of DID is significant amnesia which can't be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. The disorder includes inability to recall important personal information relating to some of the identities. The cause is almost invariably overwhelming childhood trauma, and the disorder is best viewed as a developmental disorder in which extreme trauma interferes with formation of a single cohesive identity. What is known by one identity may or may not be known by another. Some identities appear to know and interact with others in an elaborate inner world, and some identities do this more than others. A dissociative fugue may occur that lasts hours, days or months.


Several symptoms are characteristic:

  • Fluctuating symptom pictures
  • Fluctuating levels of function from highly effective to disabled
  • Severe headaches or other pains
  • Time distortions, time lapses, and amnesia
  • Depersonalization and derealization


Depersonalization refers to feeling unreal, removed from one's self, and detached from one's physical and mental processes. Derealization refers to experiencing familiar people and surroundings as if they were unfamiliar, strange, or unreal.


Patients typically lose time; they experience frequent bouts of amnesia after which they may discover objects or samples of handwriting that they cannot account for or recognize. They may also find themselves in different places from where they last remember being and have no idea why or how they got there. They may refer to themselves in the first person plural (we) or in the third person (he, she, they), sometimes without knowing why.


The switching of identities and the amnestic barriers between them frequently result in chaotic lives. Because the identities often interact with each other, patients typically report hearing inner conversations between other personalities, which comment on or address them. Thus, patients may be misdiagnosed with a psychotic disorder. Although these voices are experienced as hallucinations, they have a distinctly different quality from the typical hallucinations of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.


~The Merck Manuals


~Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)
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Mental illness and past life recall are two very different things, imo. Personally I do not like the association between the two. I've remembered past lives since I was little and I also have three years of Psychology in University and I find them to be very different things.


One does not get caught up believing they are that pl persona in the now - there is an awareness of who you were before, but you never lose sight of knowing who you are now. There is no dissociation - no depersonalization or derealization in past life work. It is emotional and in the moment. ;) A person with a past life memory experiences a flash in the now - as if it were happening. But it is not a constant nor continuous thing and there are none of the other symptoms that I listed that follow it.


You might want to check out the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, more commonly referred to as the DSM-IV - and the Merck Manuals are excellent references for medical information.


Good Luck!


Ailish


P.S. I think it's great that you're writing a story, but I just wanted to clarify the differences between mental illness and past life recall. I think it would be remiss not to mention that for people reading along who may think their loved one's illness is past life related and a regression will cure them - when professional medical care is always the best route ;)
 
I just tuned into a movie called Haven't We Met Before... Somewhat tied in with your idea about a killer who meets people from his past and whom he takes revenge on. He is trying to get a diagnoses of schizophrenia. The psychiatrist in the scene seems to be trying to determine some diagnoses.. She does believe in past life regression.. sorry do not have the time to watch it to tell you how it ends..


I still believe a psychiatrist could determine if a person has schizophrenia from their behaviour.. ie their inability to function. They may recieve another label if the person is really focused on their past, but that would mean they are suffering from another mental illness that takes them to behaving this way..
 
More info


I surely do appreciate all of your help, information and advice. I respect the opinions I've read here. I do feel I need to explain a couple of things that might :butbut: give people a bit different perception.


The character I'm writing about was born in 1947 and diagnosed - sorry misdiagnosed when he was 14 or 15, so around 1961. I suspect that the knowledge of mental illness was much more limited 48 years ago than it is today.


Ailish,

For example sometimes they are distant, detached or pre-occupied and may sit rigidly in one place for hours. Other times they may move about constantly, always occupied, appearing wide-awake, vigilant, and alert.
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This actually sounds very much like my MC's behavior at times. Have you been peeking at my work? :)


Soulfriendly,


I look up that movie. Thanks.


Not sure if it will play out in the end, but I have found your ideas helpful, so I thank you all for that. Looking forward to learning more from everyone here.


Hadley
 
More misdiagnosis questions


Hi all,


I'm back - still working on my story. Well, I've finished, but now the real work of revising (and getting my facts straight :rolleyes:) begins. As my story evolves my main character has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, BUT that's just a minor complication.


As it turns out he has memories of other lives, but he does not understand what they are. He often has dreams that are related to his past lives, and also has day dreams about his past lives, often seeing his former self in some painful situations. The day dreams sometimes seem like voices or visions to him. Again, he really doesn't understand them, but knows he is not schizophrenic.


He is confused at times; the past life 'episodes' cause him some difficulties in social situations at times. Let me give an example:


In one past life he was a monk in 16th century England, during the Pilgrimmage of Grace. In the present day he is able to remember many of the prayers and has a good understanding of the time period, though he doesn't really understand where this information comes from. But it is such an important part of who he is that, at times, he will begin saying prayers aloud, or talking about things that existed in the 16th century but don't exist anymore.


In another life he was a young polish boy during WWII and has recall of German and Polish from that time and uses it interchangably with English in his current life. He seems unaware that he is doing it, so appear a bit odd at times when he spurts out dialogue in a foreign language.


To my question - finally;


Does this seem feasible/realistic/likely, based on your experiences with past life memories?


Thanks for any help you can offer.


hadley
 
Hi Hadley!


I'm glad to see you back, because I followed your earlier posts along with the responses from the beginning. I should say, first of all, that I've never personally experienced what some would call full-blown flashbacks of past lives, but I have had some current-life flashbacks from 42 years ago. any personal experience that I may have had with past-life memories have been much less dramatic. However, I have read instances of people who have had full-sensory flashbacks of past life events that were more than mere memories. However, it seems that those experiencing such events were fully aware of what was happening.


I can't say with certainty, whether your character's confusion would be characteristic of today's time frame, but it has the right "feel" for a very interesting story that could have happened 50 years ago. I have read that people with paranormal abilities, who were supposedly able to sense spirits, would often start out thinking that what they were experiencing was quite natural, and they would assume that everyone could sense the same things. However, when they grew older and began interacting with the world on a social level they would experience great confusion while suffering a great deal of social criticism. So, it does seem plausible that someone in their teens could begin feeling as though there was something wrong with themselves; and seeking help, could find themselves in a great deal of trouble.


I can also add that, being of the same age as your character, I know that anyone speaking of such things could cause one to end up being taken against their will to a mental institution. In my opinion there were far more mentally disturbed people wearing white coats than there were patients at that time. While it is true that Psychiatric Medicine had come a very long way by the 60's, most mental facilities were still very poorly staffed and badly trained.


So, yes, I believe that your story is quite plausible for the period you mentioned; and I certainly would suspect that many poor souls were locked away and given treatments that left them quite disturbed in the end, even if they hadn't started out that way. It would even be more plausible, if your character somehow ended up in the mid southwestern American "bible belt", where Christian fundamentalism would tend to rule the day.


I look forward to hearing more about your story, and hope that you'll keep in touch throughout your research.


-Nightrain
 
Nightrain,


Thank you so much for your reply. You've reassured me that my character has possibilities. Thank you for that - it's huge :thumbsup:


I love your idea of him encountering the Christian fundamentalists at some point - I'll keep that in mind - maybe figure out a way to work it in.


One of the things that is central to my plot is this man's reality that the memories of his past life are so intertwined with the present. Sometimes he gets confused over what is now and what was from another time. Other responses here made me feel that couldn't really happen, but everyone is different and recall of past lives in combination with mental illness...who knows where that might lead?


I will be counting on the forums here as I continue my revisions. I am hoping to learn more about how the transition from one life to another happens as I near the end of my book.


Thank you again.


hadley
 
When I was around age 5 or 6 I remember playing on a hay wagon with my brothers and was thinking of another little wagon that I had played on. I never gave it much thought as a child, I just had a memory of it even though I didn't recall us having one like that. It was just as real and similar of memory then and now. Reincarnation was not something ever mentioned in my family.


The little wagon that I had been thinking of then I had played on in the 1860's. It was part of a bigger memory that I recall now. I heard of reincarnation first when I was probably 13 years old and that's when it connected that some of the memories in my head weren't from this life. I remember telling my mom stuff as a kid but she'd usually give me a weird look and laugh then shoo me outside with a 'go play'. I quit telling her anything at around age 7, maybe 6. I'd hate to think of what may have eventually happened if I had been more persistent in getting her to listen.


I know as a kid though I was pretty confused about my memories since in some of them I was clearly not a little kid. There just wasn't anyone to tell them to. Around age 7 in my play I started pretending I got dropped off from some other planet which was fun to play, even though I knew that wasn't it but since in my parents beliefs that was almost acceptable. Christianity and science were the 2 accepted belief systems so they accepted life on other planets but never heard of reincarnation........


It didn't help that I also was the only one in my family to be able to see ghosts and spirits also, that includes extended family on both sides. I really did feel I didn't belong there.
 
Thanks for your post Wednesday. You brought up an important point - that peoples' belief systems have a lot of influence on those around them. When only one of a group is experiencing something unusual it could be difficult for others in the group to understand them.


hadley
 
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