| Schizophrenic symptoms can include hallucinations and delusions, such as hearing voices that no one else can hear, smelling things that no one else can smell, and believing things that other people don’t – or can’t – believe. You might think that you are being followed, that people are trying to harm you, or even that you have special, magical powers.
Collectively, hallucinations and delusions are known as psychosis. People with Bipolar Disorder can also experience psychosis, but in Bipolar Disorder, episodes of psychosis only ever occur during manic or depressive episodes, whereas in Schizoaffective Disorder, psychosis occurs both within mood episodes and outside of mood episodes. One of the main diagnostic criteria of Schizoaffective Disorder is that psychotic symptoms are present for at least two weeks in the absence of mood symptoms.
Bipolar symptoms include mania, hypomania and depression. Mania has sometimes been describes as a state of intense happiness, although this is not quite what it’s like to experience it. When you’re manic, you have too much energy, racing thoughts, feel restless, capable of achieving anything – but you may also feel very irritable and get angry when people tell you to slow down.
Depression is the symptom that most people can easily relate to, because most people know what it’s like to feel sad – and depression is a very severe form of sadness. When people are depressed, though, they don’t just feel sad. They lose interest in their lives, struggle to get pleasure from the things that they used to enjoy. Many depressed people also try to take their own lives.
Schizoaffective Disorder is difficult to diagnose because it is so similiar to both Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Many people with the Disorder will be initially diagnosed with either Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder before reaching a final diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder. Treatment is usually with anti-psychotic medication, anti-depressants, and mood stabilisers. |
Schizoaffective Disorder
