Schizoaffective Disorder Definition

Really it's a better prognosis that Schizophrenia. It's about the meds you'll need more than anything. I am schizoaffective mixed/bi polar type and I need both an antipsychotic and antidepressants/mood stabilizers.

operakid wrote:ive been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (depressive type) and im finding it really hard can anyone help me ?

what do you need help with?

Why have a definition here anyways. Everyone is different and everyone needs unique treatment. So titles should only be important to insurance companies who don't really deal with you and you should be treated as an individual. I hate so social worker or therapist not listen to a word you say and say some second hand statement about what usually happens or what usually helps even when you've experienced the opposite multiple times.

We are all snowflakes but we get treated like snow

Its a basic guidline. Doesn't matter if you aren't EXACTLY what is in the definition. There are diagnotic criteria that has to be met for the dx. If you don't fall under atleast a handful (some are like... "must have 3 of these listed in criterion A. 4 in criterion B" and stuff) then you aren't it. But with schizophrenia, its like.. if you just have delusions and hallucinations and they're really bizzare that's all you need or something.

jezebel wrote:Schizoaffective is schizophrenia + bi-polar. That is what my doctor explained to me. But I always label it as having schizophrenia (parnoid type) and bi-polar. Not schizoaffective...because I don't like that term.

~Jez

That's like the opposite of what my psychiatrist and therapist tell me! They say you have "schizo-affective" NOT schizophrenia, as if schizo-affective is some fancy French name for better than schizophrenia. This annoys the heck out of me! I'm like, WTF? Pleeease just diagnose me with Autism, I want special treatment and pretty colors. But, my therapist is all over how I am doing so amazing that I have effectively treated my Manic Highs and Depressive Lows. I am sooo effing mad! I DONT HAVE BIPOLAR HIGHS OR LOWS ######6 CHRIST! And she's like, well you won't be aware of them...this new diagnosis is better than Paranoid Schizophrenia, but it's still a joke. I wear the schizophrenia umbrella every day and that umbrella aint done $#%^ to keep me from getting wet. Hopefully I DO get bipolar! Because honestly, this whole thing is starting to annoy me! I am so sick of being psychoanalyzed by quack doctors. In fact, I HOPE I DO GET SICK SOON AND I AM SO SICK OF THIS MEDICATION I AM SICK OF BEING NORMAL IF THIS MEANS BEING diagnosed by dr jeckle mrs hyde. Screw it.

from what i can tell it's more like this..

schizophrenia is purely psychotic. mood swings/shifts can be a symptom. that's maybe stress related from everything else that is going on or just part of it.

bi-polar with psychotic features is mostly the mood disorder with psychotic symptoms some of the time. the psychosis isn't constant.

schizoaffective is basically schizophrenia with some of the bi-polar symptoms. it's more psychotic and less mood but it still has both. from what i can understand, schizoaffective isn't necesarrily schizophrenia+bi-polar. it's schizophrenia+high or low (as is in bi-polar). it is more so psychotic than mood.

think of it as like.. each more a psychotic disorder and less of a mainly mood disorder as it continues. it ends with schizophrenia being the psychotic disorder. schizoaffective is on that end of the spectrum.

bi-polar --> bi-polar w/psych. ft. --> schizoaffective --> schizophrenia.

suavey wrote:It's actually backed up with some quite sound research if you look at the links (even though it is just a theory at this stage). But schizophrenia is pretty much uniformly distributed worldwide so your assertion that other cultures have more schizophrenia and they do so because of 'incestuous relations' or 'genetic defects' is baseless.

the only reason one culture would have a higher rate of schizophrenia is the same reason why more children are being found with Austism. The tests are getting better to properly see what the problem really is. Back in the sixties parents of children with Austism were told their child would have to be institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia.

From all that I'm reading there seems to be a complete confusion on what is what. I'm so freaking confused and I keep thinking maybe I need to have my husband re-diagnosed. clean slate! start all over! He needs help and I'm not seeing a whole lot of what he suffers even though he said his doctors gave him the schizoaffective diagnosis.

The difference between Schizoaffective Disorder and a comorbid condition of Schizophrenia + Bipolar is in the specific, physical way that the brain got jacked up. They behave similarly, but need to be treated differently. Figuring out exactly which an individual has involves a round of tests with dubious credibility.

my husband started showing signs in Jr high so i assume he was born with it.