Thanks for writing about this. I guess the main point is to try to function with whatever symptoms you are having regardless of the diagnosis. The entire diagnostic process is very confusing to me. I wonder what is going to change in 2013 when they revise the DSM again. Just look at autism spectrum disorders for example. They are thinking of doing away with Asperger's syndrome after so many people have embraced this label. I feel for the people who are in between diagnoses and they are in limbo as far as what disorder they have. I think it does help to have a definitive diagnosis so they don't have doubts about what they have and which group to seek support from. In some ways the diagnosis can be important for one's identity if that makes sense. When one gets a diagnosis it can be a eureka moment of..."ahhh so that is what this is!" For both the person being diagnosed and their family.
But for some diagnoses like schizoaffective disorder...it is not clear what it means and I am sure that has an effect on the person given this label.
Looking forward to reading more posts on this topic.
Merely Me (Community Leader for MyDepressionConnection)
Hey, MerelyMe. You raise a very good point. As well as doing away with Aspergers, the DSM also plans to do away with Narcissism. As with Aspergers, Narcissism is fairly clearly understood and is widely accepted. Diagnostic labels are funny things, but when they fit the lightbulbs do go off.
Schizoaffective has not reached that state of clarity or acceptance.
It is critical to note that all three illnesses involve a certain shade on the mental illness color wheel. Think of depression and bipolar and schizophrenia as primary colors - red, blue, yellow. There are a lot of secondary color shades between depression and bipolar - call it orange, if you like - and I argue we need to come up with some more precise diagnostic terms (bipolar III?, mixed depression?).
Likewise there are a lot of shades between bipolar and schizophrenia. Call it purple - no, violet, no, magenta. This is where we are with schizoaffective. If we decide to call it magenta, then what about violet? - we know there is violet. Can we widen schizoaffective to include both magenta and violet? Or would that make the diagnosis meaningless?
Complicating matters is that psychosis also occurs in depression, so, to stick to the color wheel analogy, we're jumping into the tertiary colors - browns with grayish tinges, grays with brownish tinges, ad infinitum.
This whole spectrum consideration underlies all of mental illness, and when it is done right, as you say, you get the eureka moment: Ah - Aspergers, a more functional form of autism. Ah - Narcissism, no wonder that person is impossible to get along with. Ah - bipolar II, no wonder antidepressants were making me worse rather than better.
We really don't have that kind of eureka moment for schizoaffective, and I'm so glad you pointed that out. Instead, of aha! we are left to wonder, what the hell are we dealing with? This is totally unsatisfactory.
Looking forward to more of your insights ...
So I don't know, my boss creepily approached me at one point several years ago questioning if my bipolar II had an element of schizoaffective symtoms. "No" was my reply. But after reading on this site for over 10 years now I ran across delusional self blame as symtom of bipolar. Is that psychosis. I don't know. It was always hard to keep me and my reaction to some error made a work out of the picture. I thought that everything that went wrong was my fault and that fed right into my assistant bosses' arrogance. (YOUR'E crazy. I'm not. So there!) I had my doctor put me on and a-typical antispsychotic resperidone for 2 months and right now those thoughts have left me. I had to go off the resperidone for awhile due to high colesterol and other side effects. But was I psychotic, I don't know.
my boyfriend(36yrs old) is SZ/Paranoia for 15 yrs and have been on haldol for this amount of time and his mother won't have him re-evaluated, he is drinkn every chance he gets. he is very depressed bsc he doesn't have the material things he want, like new vehicle, house, a better job, he loves the Lord an follows the word(bible) totally. until he got impatient with the lord not giving him want he feel he deserve. he is being very rebellious and saying for get the world and the rules of God an doing things he wouldnt normally do or beleive in, bsc people he is hanging around has the things he doesnt have, they are not true friends and he gets very angry if i say anythng about them. there is also some family memebers that is telling him wrong things as well. so none them has his best interest at hand with his illness with drinking and about life. i have found out that they are all jealous that he has someone like me that does 120% to make things better for him and support him all the way. what can i do to help him see that he has a chance at alot if he just stop listening to those people cause they are not helping him with him illness but making it worse. he wont talk to the Dr. bsc he is tryn to get off the meds bsc he says nothn is wrong with him.
my friend is very depressed and no one sees or is doing anything about it. they just leave him alone and say nothing. i am scared that the next step might be him going off or suicide. he stays in his room unless he is going somewhere or using the bathroom or eating. no conversation of no kind. i try talking to him and asking if he is ok of course he says he is fine but i know for a fact that he has anger, depression and problems of wanting things that he fell he wont be able to receive and he is almost 40yrs old. i have put it on black and white that we can make it together, but i havent heard an reply to it. i have shown my support and true love for him for years now. and i don't know what else to do for him to just reach out and grab my hand and he'll see happiness and favor. he needs to talk to the doctore about his depression but he wants to be off the meds to have a normal life but they fail to tell him that there is no getting of the meds but to just wait for the next appointment to see. every month. he has pulled away from me in communicating an i am the only one that really loves him and want to help (forever). Please help what are some coping skill that i could try. we have known each other for almost three years and he has broken up with me three times bsc of what others have said. there wanting his check (SSI) and is jealous of me being in his life and they he could very well prosper if he is with me. HELP !!!!
my friend is very depressed and no one sees or is doing anything about it. they just leave him alone and say nothing. i am scared that the next step might be him going off or suicide. he stays in his room unless he is going somewhere or using the bathroom or eating. no conversation of no kind. i try talking to him and asking if he is ok of course he says he is fine but i know for a fact that he has anger, depression and problems of wanting things that he fell he wont be able to receive and he is almost 40yrs old. i have put it on black and white that we can make it together, but i havent heard an reply to it. i have shown my support and true love for him for years now. and i don't know what else to do for him to just reach out and grab my hand and he'll see happiness and favor. he needs to talk to the doctore about his depression but he wants to be off the meds to have a normal life but they fail to tell him that there is no getting of the meds but to just wait for the next appointment to see. every month. he has pulled away from me in communicating an i am the only one that really loves him and want to help (forever). Please help what are some coping skill that i could try. we have known each other for almost three years and he has broken up with me three times bsc of what others have said. there wanting his check (SSI) and is jealous of me being in his life and they he could very well prosper if he is with me. HELP !!!!
Featuring Content From:
By using this service, you accept our Terms of Use. Please read them. The consumer health information on is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen. Copyright © 2012 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
What do you call a psychotic mood disorder which does not respond to mood stabilizers (I've tried them all) but does respond to an antipsychotic? Is it bipolar disorder or schizoaffective? I lean towards the former only because I am not too disorganized in my life (though not very organized) to be in the schizophrenia spectrum. But what do I know. I have asked experts, but they seem as confused as me. But what do labels matter: When you find what works, stick with it! I know that the current medical mantra is to avoid antipsychotics as much as possible. What to do when the less "toxic" options don't work? Sometimes one is unlucky (or lucky) to find relief with those "evil" antipsychotics.
Hey, Cretin. I'm with you all the way. It really gets confusing because "mood stabilizers" are a total misnomer. They largely work as sedatives to calm down mania and do little or nothing for depression (Lamictal actually has no convincing clinical trial evidence for depression). Seroquel and Zyprexa, on the other hand, have very sound clinical trial evidence for treating both mania and depression, so maybe they should be called mood stabilizers.
It would be great if we could come up with a diagnosis to define your true state, but you seem to have arrived at a reasonable approximation, yourself. In other words, you have better insight into your condition than the people who treat you and that's a great start.
No doubt, gene studies and brain scans will reveal a lot more, but the best insights right now are from people like yourself. Then, once we get a dialogue going, some really crucial Ahas! are likely to emerge. Let's keep talking ...