Schizoaffective Disorder 1

What’s worse sz or sza?does sza have cognitive symptoms as a part of the illness?

There both bad.

Would you say they are “serious” mental illnesses?
Or severe mental illnesses ?

They’re both severe mental illnesses. My understanding is that sza has a slightly better recovery profile than sz, but I don’t know that the severity is worse with one to the other.

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They’re both suckville population us. I have to give a lot of credit to the sza folks and everyone else battling depression though. It must be very challenging and you’re all brave souls for fighting onwards.

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I can’t imagine having psychosis without being depressed. Just the delusions alone are enough to keep me hiding under the covers for months on end.
The emptiness that I feel and the negative thinking and anxiety make it almost impossible to have.

As far as I know Sza is having both Sz and bipolar. Surely both is worse than Sz on it’s own. I’m glad I don’t have a mood disorder on top of Sz, I’ve seen bipolar people in hospital. But it doesn’t really mean anything really as everyone is different with both illnesses.

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I’m sorry. Try to remember that nobody judges you as harshly as you judge yourself. I don’t mean that as some platitude. I mean you literally judge yourself so badly, and the rest of the world doesn’t see you in such a negative way. Most people are so wrapped up in worrying what you think of them that they don’t have brain space leftover to worry about what they think of you.

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It is sz with a mood disorder, which can be either depression or bipolar. Sza - depressive type is often forgotten, but it can be as devastating (if not more so) than sz or sza - bipolar.

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Thanks @Ninjastar. Not taken personally. I live in shitsville NJ where everyone is trying to outdo everyone else. It’s hard not to be judgemental when all I hear is, where do your kids to to school, or what part of Rumson are you from? It’s the most materialistic narrow minded little area and it’s all driven by money and success. Throw a serious mental illness into the mix and it’s no wonder I feel the way I do.

I’ve been in New Jersey a few times, and I definitely got a very uppity vibe. Remember though, those people are more interested in talking about how great they are than actually knowing anything about your life. I survive those types of people by just asking lots of questions and acting really impressed with their answers.

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I will keep that approach in mind.

Serious and severe mental illness are interchangeable terms.

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In terms of functioning and recovery etc there is research that shows outcomes for schizoaffective are intermediate between bipolar with psychotic features and schizophrenia.

What’s depression ?

Even though people say that sza does a little better than sz I would imagine that it is worse. I mean you have to deal with depression and mania as well as the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. I’ve been diagnosed with both sza and sz in the past so I don’t know exactly where I stand. Did you get a sza diagnosis?

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It’s a serious mental illness. Here’s a rundown on them.

http://www.bcbsil.com/provider/standards/serious_vs_non_serious.html

Those with mood incongruent psychotic symptoms showed worse prognosis.

I imagine schizoaffective depressive type would be intermediate between psychotic depression and schizophrenia.

“Serious Mental Illness” (Adult With a Serious Mental Illness) means an individual 18 years of age or older who meets the following criteria:

A. Currently or at any time during the past year have had a diagnosable mental, behavioral or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet criteria specified within DSM-IV with the exception of “V” codes, substance use disorders, and developmental disorders, unless they co-occur with another diagnosable serious mental illness;

and

B. Has at least (a) moderate impairment in at least four, (b) severe impairment in two or © extreme impairment in one of the following areas:

  1.     Feeling, Mood, and Affect:  Uncontrolled emotion is clearly disruptive in its effects on other aspects of a person's life.  Marked change in mood.  Depression and/or anxiety incapacitates person.  Emotional responses are inappropriate to the situation.
    
  2.     Thinking:  Severe impairment in concentration, persistence, and pace.  Frequent or consistent interference with daily life due to impaired thinking.  Presence of delusions and/or hallucinations.   Frequent substitution of fantasy for reality.
    
  3.     Family:  Disruption of family relationships.  Family does not function as a unit and experiences frequent turbulence. Relationships that exist are psychologically devastating.
    
  4.     Interpersonal:  Severe inability to establish or maintain a personal social support system.  Lacks close friends or group affiliations.  Socially isolated.
    
  5.     Role Performance:  Frequent disruption of role performance and individual is unable to meet usual expectations.  Unable to obtain or maintain employment and/or conduct daily living chores such as care of immediate living environment.
    
  6.     Socio-legal:  Inability to maintain conduct within the limits prescribed by law, rules, and strong mores.  Disregard for safety of others. Destructive to property. Involvement with law enforcement.
    
  7.     Self Care/Basic Needs:  Disruption in the ability to provide for his/her own needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.  Assistance required in obtaining housing, food and/or clothing.  Unable to maintain hygiene, diet, clothing, and prepare food.
    

or

C. Has a duration of illness of at least one year and (a) at least moderate impairment in two, or (b) severe impairment in one of the following areas:

  1.     Feeling, Mood, and Affect:  Uncontrolled emotion is clearly disruptive in its effects on other aspects of a person's life. Marked change in mood.  Depression and/or anxiety incapacitates person. Emotional responses are inappropriate to the situation.
    
  2.     Thinking:  Severe impairment in concentration, persistence and pace.  Frequent or consistent interference with daily life due to impaired thinking.  Presence of delusions and/or hallucinations. Frequent substitution of fantasy for reality.
    
  3.     Family:  Disruption of family relationships.  Family does not function as a unit and experiences frequent turbulence. Relationships that exist are psychologically devastating.
    
  4.     Interpersonal:  Severe inability to establish or maintain a personal social support system.  Lacks close friends or group affiliations.  Socially isolated.
    
  5.     Role Performance:  Frequent disruption of role performance and individual is unable to meet usual expectations.  Unable to obtain or maintain employment and/or conduct daily living chores such as, care of immediate living environment.
    
  6.     Socio-legal:  Inability to maintain conduct within the limits prescribed by law, rules, and strong mores.  Disregard for safety of others.  Destructive to property. Involvement with law enforcement.
    
  7.     Self Care/Basic Needs:  Disruption in the ability to provide for his/her own needs such as food, clothing, shelter and transportation.  Assistance required in obtaining housing, food and/or clothing.  Unable to maintain hygiene, diet, clothing, and prepare food.
    

NOTE: Individuals with a primary diagnosis of substance abuse or developmental disorder are excluded from this definition.

Individuals may show less impairment if they are on medications or receiving other treatment services that reduce the symptoms of the illness, but moderate to severe impairment in functioning would result with discontinuation of the medications.

http://www.odmhsas.org/eda/advancedquery/smi.htm

Personality disorders are wrongly described as non serious in the link you posted, but could be within the definition of serious mental illness posted above .

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