I’m diagnosed schizoaffective but it’s pretty much the same as bi polar…depends on who you ask. I’ve heard voices, delusions, paranoia, intrusive thoughts, mania, depression, grandiosity, believing I was psychic, aliens, Jesus, devil, etc…
But I respond very well to medication…sometimes I think I’m less severe than other szs but only thanks to medication…which could mean I’m bi polar. My pdoc seems to think I was born bi polar but then smoked so much weed I changed to schizoaffective, he didn’t know me before major psychosis though. Idk I’m kinda getting past the hypochondriac feeling sorry for myself and would rather be bi polar like Jimi Hendrix Kurt cobain Eminem and ozzy osbourne… Idk
I am in the position where my current pdoc thinks that I have bipolar disorder but she is not 100 percent sure, schizoaffective could be a possibility with me.
If you are having hallucinations or delusions outside of a mood episode like mania or depression, you probably have SZA.
If you are having hallucinations or delusions whie you are experiencing mania or depression, it could be bipolar.
I believe my lack of insight and living in a fantasy world growing up to lean towards schizoaffective but it gets me when my pdoc says “you were bi polar until you smoked too much weed”…as if drugs can change what you are. I’m not sure if my hallucinations and delusions were attributed to mood, I wasn’t having enough insight back then when I had those things… Oh well I guess I’ll have to live with uncertainty
Schizoaffective disorder (abbreviated as SZA, SZD or SAD) is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal thought processes and deregulated emotions.[1][2] The diagnosis is made when the patient has features of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder—either bipolar disorder or depression—but does not strictly meet diagnostic criteria for either alone.[1][2]
imho, You could be bipolar, but there’s so many overlapping symptoms even the professionals can’t seem to agree on a diagnosis. As someone said on this forum before, try not to focus so much on a label and just try to find the right meds that agree with you. I hope abilify continues to work for you, it made me much worse, everybody’s different as you know.
There’s differences in opinion like some say it’s in between schizophrenia and bi polar. Or “very psychotic bi polar” others say it’s schizophrenia plus a mood disorder. What’s more severe than what? These professionals can’t make up their minds on diagnosises…I shouldn’t care so much because I am who I am I guess is what I get from what I just said.
