Question about my diagnosis…

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I was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia after an episode at work 10 yrs ago. Last year I moved to California. My new medical records say Schizophrenia (unspecified Type), in another document from my new caseworker states I am Schizoaffective. What is Schizoaffective? Do these differences matter?

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Slightly. Sounds like me. It’s mainly terminology, but schizo-affective disorder has a mood component too it. Do you ever feel mania or bipolar?

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Or have spent a period of time depressed? There are two types of schizoaffective: bipolar type, and depressed type.

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No I never feel mania. Definitely never considered myself bipolar. I’m confused, cause when i was meeting with my caseworker I referred to my pass diagonals of Paranoid Schizophrenia and he said, he didn’t like to use that word “paranoid”. I really hate switching medical treatment. He did say I suffered also from depression. Is that what changing my diagnosis.

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When the new DSM came out (in ~2015), the bible of psych diagnoses, they eliminated the types of sz (paranoid, catatonic, disorganized, etc) and just call all of them “Schizophrenia.” We’re now all under one big umbrella.diagnosis.

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Thanks for the clarification @anon40540444 @anon28145038 . I was so confused.

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There are two types of schizoaffective: depressive type, and bipolar type. Maybe you have the depressive type. That’s what I’m diagnosed as having

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So everyone has Schizophrenia but get categorized further as Schizoaffective depending on mood.

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@anon40540444 it seems strange they would eliminate the subtypes of schizophrenia. From everything I’ve read, there are five types of schizophrenia, each one with its own cluster of symptoms. I am a atypical, in a sense that I only hear voices

I didn’t realize that they had done this

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@Cragger please see second paragraph :slight_smile:
https://www.mentalhelp.net/schizophrenia/the-new-dsm-5/

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No. You can be diagnosed as

  1. Schizohrenia
    2a) Schizoaffective bipolar type
    2b) Schizoaffective depressed type

There are also other psychosis-spectrum illnesses one can be diagnosed with, such as Schizophreniform (spell)?, Brief Psychotic Disorder, Psychotic Disorder NOS (Not otherwise specified), etc. Hope this helps.

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