Is there a difference between the two?
I dont think so. I think that’s why it’s so hard to tell the difference between the two sometimes. I have a similar question about Sza vs SZ. I’m diagnosed SZ, with depression and anxiety yet my psych doesn’t diagnos me Sza )since there’s a mood disorder involved) I connect more with the SZ diagnosis as I have a general lack of emotion, and feel like if I was Sza is be a little more emotional
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There is no difference. The two psychoses look exactly alike. The only difference is that with bipolar, the psychosis happens when they are either very depressed or very manic. With schizophrenia, the psychosis happens in the absence of any mood symptoms.
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a therapist told me the difference between a bipolar psychosis and a schizoaffective psychosis is the schizoaffective person had psychosis while experiencing non mood disorders but later on develop the mood disorders or something like that i could be misquoting.
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The difference between a bipolar and a sza is that a bipolar only experiences psychosis while either very depressed or very manic. The sza can experience psychosis while in an even, euthymic mood state. Or, the sza can also experience psychosis during a severe mood state.
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Thanks for the replies. I’ve been told that I have bipolar disorder but my psychotic episodes are identical to some of the people on here with sz.
I have them when I get very depressed
I’d suggest going to another pdoc and getting a second opinion.
My question was… Is the psychosis different? Not what’s the difference between the two disorders.
I don’t want another disgnosis I like being bipolar just fine lol
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i knew it was something like that, thanks for clearing that up @Anonaccount. i dont usually experience psychosis while in a mood state. last time i was manic though before getting on lithium i was delusional. i thought everyone’s cellphones were telepathically connected to my head and people who were talking on their phones could hear my thoughts and that kept me up for 4 days straight until i finally passed out from exhaustion.
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Sounds like mania and the lithium helped you.
the lithium started helping almost immediately, within a week i was no longer manic and the delusion was going away. every now and then i have a brief thought that people are listening to my thoughts on their cells but i can swipe that idea out of my head.
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Yes, lithium is a good drug for an awful lot of people. It wasn’t so for me. I was on it for years to no good effect. That was back in the days when there was literally nothing else available on the market. It did absolutely no good for me, but, I was stuck on it for years. Needless to say, I stayed very, very sick for years. Then, in 1996, they came out with Risperdal and Depakote. Those were miracle drugs for me. Then, when my pdoc took me off Depakote and put me on Tegretol, that was the real clincher. I became a new woman that I didn’t recognize. Sometimes all it takes is time. Time for new drugs to come onto the market.
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Risperdal and Depakote is what I’m on now and they are my miracle drugs too @Anonaccount!
@MeghillaGorilla1 - Usually the psychosis in Bipolar Disorder is more Grandiose and sometimes Euphoric.
The psychosis in Schizophrenia is usually darker and involves more persecution than bipolar psychosis.
But again, everyone is different.
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That’s really interesting. I’d say my psychosis was somewhere between dark, grandiose and persecutory
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When I was on an Antidepressant, my psychosis was very Grandiose.
My recent psychotic break was persecutory in nature - lots of paranoia.
2 NAMES, 1 DISEASE: Does schizophrenia = psychotic bipolar disorder?
I was originally diagnosed with sz . Then I thought it was officially switched to sz-a although bipolar was mentioned. However just found form for an EEG from 2001 where I am described as having bipolar affective disorder . By early 2005 I’m listed as having schizoaffective mixed type. By the end of 2005 personality disorder NOS. Sometime after 2007/8 paranoid PD.
The only real thing that has changed over the course of 44 years is that I have gone at some point from acutely to chronically ill . Some symptoms have lessened while others have been more constant.
I think cases like mine and @Wave show that diagnosis, and figuring in this instance the difference between bipolar and schizophrenia psychosis, is a very inexact and subjective thing.
Some of us don’t fit neatly into any diagnostic label, couple that with pdocs with differing opinions as to what are ,or are not, your symptoms and it’s a recipe for playing diagnosis bingo.
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My first psychotic break ‘looked’ manic (I was dancing down the street) so they diagnosed me with bipolar. They then realized I was being ‘brain controlled’ and that the dancing wasn’t mania, but rather a delusion of control so I was diagnosed with SZ. Since then (I am still being brain controlled) I have been diagnosed with delusional disorder. My understanding is that psychosis in BP and SZ is the same, hence my being dx 3 times.
The difference is ‘Mink’.
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