[Hydrophobic1212]

I had a visit with my psychiatrist today and after many years saying I had Bipolar specifically, he says it's Schizoaffective Disorder, based on how my symptoms are now. I had been doing some research and that's what I thought my symptoms coincided with so I am happy to know I was right. Though, for some reason, my dad said it wasn't something to be proud of? Which kind of upset me... Anyways!

I also have a question~ Are there different types of Schizoaffective? Things that I've read have said that there are, like depressive-type and bipolar-type. Just curious if anyone knows that or not.

Thanks in advance!

[mgran]

I know it's a relief when your symptoms finally make sense. I was originally diagnosed with unipolar depression, then psychotic depression, then bipolar 2, and finally schizoaffective disorder. It was a journey getting there, but once I got over the shock of the "schizo" diagnoses it did actually help to know what the root of the problems were.

There are different kinds of schizoaffective disorder, there's a unipolar subtype, a bipolar subtype. Basically it's a mood disorder with schizophrenic symptoms thrown into the mix.

I get where your Dad is coming from... being schizoaffective is no picnic. But likewise it's nothing to be ashamed of, anymore than if you were deaf or in a wheelchair. It's just what it is. Anyway, I'm glad you got your diagnoses, and I hope that having refined your diagnoses your doctor will be able to treat you more effectively.

[Hydrophobic1212]

Wow. Yeah, I went through a lot of different ones too. Autism, Tourettes (all when I was younger), Bipolar... The list goes on. It's such a relief to finally know for sure what it is.

So there are subtypes. That was what I was curious about. He didn't say mine was a subtype or not so I'm just going to assume plain old Schizoaffective? Since all he said was Schizoaffective. Hmm... That'll be a question for him next time, maybe.

True. Though, I've been dealing with the symptoms for awhile you'd think he'd be relieved too... My dad's hard to decode lol So who knows?

Anyways, thank you for your help!