Voices in head?

sorry but you need to question whether the autism diagnosis was correct on this and whether she has schizoprhenia instead.

hearing voices is schizophrenia.... its understandable why she was diagnosed with autism at first because they are both very similar, but when its autism like symptoms added with hallucinations or delusions then its schizophrenia. once autism was considered on the schizophrenia spectrum before they seperated it and made it its own thing, just to give you a idea of how easy it is to mix the 2 

Thank you for your response.

We have contemplated the idea of schizophrenia, however I am trying to gather as much info as I can on whether this is a PDA specific trait or indeed schizophrenia.

Her daily battles mean that she will flip like a switch instantly and does seem as though she has 2 personalities. This is what is said to be know of PDA though, the jekyll and Hyde as they put it. 

What does confuse me is the talking to another, but as another member has responded they too talk to the 'imaginary' so I am keen to look further into this 

Thank you for your response.

We have contemplated the idea of schizophrenia, however I am trying to gather as much info as I can on whether this is a PDA specific trait or indeed schizophrenia.

Her daily battles mean that she will flip like a switch instantly and does seem as though she has 2 personalities. This is what is said to be know of PDA though, the jekyll and Hyde as they put it. 

What does confuse me is the talking to another, but as another member has responded they too talk to the 'imaginary' so I am keen to look further into this 

Thanks number again for your response. I appreciate your honest and willingness to share your story.  Lots to think about in terms of what presents to us and thinking about how a further diagnosis may be given later in life

I think you need to be careful not to conflate four separate issues that I perceive here;

1. PDA ? SCHIZ ? = All I can do is tell you what my PDA looks like.

2.Ability to switch instanly. = This is me.

3. Two personalities. = This is not me.

4. Talking to yourself or just out loud = This is me.

I can 'slip like a switch' too - but can control it - I can display wholly different facades, quite convincingly, at the flip of a switch.  I have learned that this scares people.  I don't know the rules about "how far I can play up with you when we are 'friends'."  Malice is rare in me.  I am very rarely prone to anger - but can display it very convincingly if it is needed.  I do seething better !!

My PDA is really unpleasant.  The defining factors for me is that it can affects ANYTHING, big or small, something that I really want to do or normally really enjoy doing, things that I'm really good at doing and things that I'm bad at doing,  or things I really NEED to do it - that triggers it.

This makes me a little dangerously unpredicable - obviously !!  To hide this problem, I enjoyed 50 years of finding ways to explain away my reoccuring PDA by a variety of means - whatever was easiest or the next-best-thing to actually doing the thing.  It's a frigging nightmare.  Since identifying the PDA, I have been making slow by notable progress in managing myself more appropriately.

In terms of the talking to yourself, it is probably my most benign characteristic.  Irritating for people who need to be around me when I work or think....but I have crafted my life to make that a bonus !

Compared to my own experience, the only difference I can see is the "2 personalities."  Are there only two?

I hope this is a helpful addendum to my earlier comment.  Please forgive me if I overstep....I am known to often......I'm autistic don't you know !!

All the best.

Hi bees,

Thanks for your response. She is very good at imaginative play and will often talk to 'someone' when regulated as she does when coming out of dysregulation.

Like you say she is 6 and I think this is why it's so hard to help at the moment other than to let her know we're here for her. She is emotionally younger than 6 so it is difficult to talk through things and I am hoping as she gets older she will be able to communicate better.

She does get the labels 'dramatic' and 'manipulative' not from myself but by others that don't understand her anxieties or panic attacks so I am always trying to explain to others.

Like you say, as per the figure In your village..some people need to understand people and their differences and the sooner they do the better! 

Caelus has a point about schizophrenia, but also be prepared that it's not that, she is 6 after all and so far what I've read could also just be attributed to an imaginary friend, and if she's quite lonely she is more likely to have an imaginary friend, and the behaviour may look like different personalities especially if she just has a sensitive trigger into adverse reactions to things. As Caelus said they are very easy to confuse at a glance but the underlying causes are very different, it would be very damaging if she is autistic and gets her reactions to things attributed or dismissed as "manipulation" or "being dramatic".

I used to talk to one of my toys when I was a kid, and it was just that the imaginary friend inhabited the toy (made it easier to hug the imaginary friend), but from the outside with my language issues I think at lot of people could have and did genuinely thought I was delusional, and a more religious figure in the village even said I was possessed by satan and my parents should burn my toys... makes you wonder who's really got their heads screwed on.