I just read a chapter on diagnosis and I admit it was pretty confusing! Bi polar and schizophrenia are very similar. The line drawn between them is not much. But that stood out to me. It does make sense I get diagnosed schizophrenia in public hospitals and schizoaffective in the private hospital I went to. How they decide the exact diagnosis though, bewilders me.
sza means there is more of a mood disorder with schizophrenia symptoms - and you have to have them separately as well.
sz is usually without mood disorder.
bipolar is mood disorder only unless it is bipolar with pyschosis.
They all differ depending on the amount of time with or without mood disorders.
I went through all of them growing up and finally asked a doc to explain it to me when I was in the hospital.
mood disorder meaning depression or mania.
example for diagnosis - pt has severe depression with bouts of mania and some psychotic symptoms during the depression - bipolar with psychotic features
pt has psychotic symptoms and depression or mania with a few weeks of just psychotic symptoms without depression or mania - sza
One thing about diagnosis is that they are based on the observation of the doctors, nurses, anyone they interview, and the symptoms reported by the patient and nothing else. There is no physical test for our ailments and they can’t read our minds (although they can hear what we say to ourselves out loud and what we are willing to tell them). The diagnosis is imperfect through this method as you may imagine and the state we are in at the time helps determine how they diagnose us. Bi-polar disorder can include psychosis and schizoaffective disorder and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia can involve moods. Anxiety caused by medications can also mimic the mood swings of bi-polar disorder as well. I have had multiple diagnosis include schizoaffective disorder when I was taking Latuda and seroquel. The most consistent diagnosis came as paranoid schizophrenia which was diagnosed from my writings to my therapist as writing was the only way I could open up about things I was afraid to say face to face with him because I was embarrassed by what the voices said and in denial that I could ever think those things.This stuff is tough to diagnose.