I’m not really bipolar. I don’ t have manic episodes. I do have depression though. But it seems a lot of people are bipolar with schizo.
I’m going to start telling people i’m bipolar though if the conversation comes up.
When someone says "What the hell is wrong you? i say "i’m bipolar. LOL
that’s funny. 
LOL
I think that they are the same illness but psychiatrists don’t really understand us, bipolar disorder is a different stage of schizophrenia, that’s what I think.
my list of things beside my name is long enough , i don’t think the shrink can fit anything more in !
take care
no, i am a psych major and i can tell you that were are not mostly bipolar. Its called schizoaffective disorder when theres a mood disorder with your schizophrenia.
Bipolar mania can often include psychotic features, but theres a certain criteria for when depressive or manic states are comorbid with schizophrenia- in other words, you must clearly have schizophrenia (meet the criteria for the diagnosis) and have a full-blown mood or depressive disorder in order to be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Anything less is just the disorder “with psychotic features”- for example, my current psychologist doesnt think i have schizophrenia, he thinks i have generalized anxiety disorder with psychotic features, but hes seen me on medication, so his view is a little confounded. I did meet the criteria for schizophrenia before i was on medication, and this new guy has seen me at my best.
@runnergirl Not all people with schizophrenia have bipolar disorder. I have schizophrenia and suffer from mania and depression - (bipolar) My dx is schizoaffective bipolar type. There is also schizoaffective depressive type - this is basically schizophrenia with a lot of depression. Psychiatry is changing. A long time ago - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were thought to be separate disorders, today schizophrenia and bipolar are thought to be closely related. I am pretty sure they run on some kind of spectrum, schizophrenia on one side, bipolar on the other side, schizoaffective in the middle.
I think schizoaffective is a misunderstanding of symptoms. I’ve always had the high energy and motivation etc. I don’t think my moods were it, I think it was just schizophrenia. My moods typically have been unaffected by the disorder. I deal with delusions and poor judgement when sick. I would burst out crying for no reason or stress, or feel down. But that’s because I was dealing with psychosis.
I’m also wondering if my illness is neurological, like autism. I guess the high energy and ability to stay awake all night was what got me the schizoaffective diagnosis.
In my mind there’s really no difference between the labels, but I prefer schizoaffective to paranoid schizophrenia anyways, although paranoia has been my biggest symptom.
I display a lot of different symptoms. Paranoia is a big problem for me, always has been an issue for me. Today doctors are noticing that many different kinds of mental illnesses are closely linked. Good doctors and therapists treat symptoms, not diagnosis labels.
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I think its more likely a schizophrenic person to display bipolar traits than it is a bi polar person to display schizo traits. A person who is only bipolar will have ups where they feel like they are on top of the world. What do we mean when we say a person has a mood disorder but is not hallucinating. Hallucinations being a schizo trait. Unlike bipolar being more of an emotional disturbance. Than it is a thought disturbance like schizophrenia.
I’m somewhat bipolar, diagnoses sza. Probably most are.
People with bipolar can hallucinate, but only when they are under some kind of mood disturbance - mania or depression.
If you hallucinate when you are not manic or severely depressed, that would be more schizophrenia. I am capable of hallucinating when manic or when I am not manic - thus the schizoaffective diagnosis.
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The Bipolar people in my mental health support group called me standoffish. 
Don’t they understand people with SZ?
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Seems to be the ‘in’ mental illness.