[CrazyLo]

I've been hospitalized 3 times in the last month for having psychotic symptoms. The first stay I was very manic. The second stay I was having a mixed episode. The third stay I don't know what the hell I was but I was delusional and paranoid. I just got discharged from the hospital today. During this last stay I don't remember really feeling manic or very depressed...I might have been mildly depressed, I'm not sure. It's all kinda fuzzy. But my discharge papers say I'm diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar. There really isn't a whole lot of information about schizoaffective on the internet that I can find. But I did read that it's schizoaffective if you have been psychotic outside of feeling manic or depressed. But I don't know if that rings true for me. So I am skeptical about this being my true diagnosis.

Before this last hospital stay, I was really anxious and panicky because of my paranoia. But I would also feel anxious for no apparent reason. I really am just wondering if anyone here that has been accurately diagnosed with schizoaffective can better explain the disorder to me? Like how do you tell if it's psychosis without mood symptoms? Are there any helpful links anyone can provide that better describes the disorder? I don't think I have schizoaffective based on what little I know about the disorder. My therapist is out of town for two weeks or else I would just investigate it further with her.

[RisuNeko]

From my experience it's a diagnosis that can take a while to get right. I've been stable for 5 months and hallucinating daily for 2.5 of those months with no mood episode whatsoever and even after a clean brain scan my pdoc wouldn't definitively diagnose me with schizoaffective. I've always had hallucinations and some paranoia verging on delusion and it hasn't always just been during an obvious mood episode. So I'm sorry if this post is not helpful but I don't really know what it takes to get a schizoaffective diagnosis. Apparently I don't have it yet.

[CopperStar]

I also find it hard to tell. I was diagnosed in the past with BP1 with psychotic features, and told that I get mostly dypshoric mania, never pure mania and rarely depression.

Well, it is hard for me to tell if dysphoric mania is causing psychosis, or if I have dysphoric mania symptoms because my psychosis is making me very upset, riled up and confused.

I've had a couple 'happier' psychotic episodes, but I didn't really have classic mania symptoms, such as racing thoughts or insomnia. It just felt like the very nature of the psychosis at those times was making me feel 'naturally' excited and positive, since I believed in what I was perceiving, and what I was perceiving was positive and exciting.

In the end I think I identify more with schizoaffective, but I don't fight my pdoc on diagnosis, because all that matters to me is that my medication makes me feel okay and stable.

[The_little_didgee]

I would doubt the diagnosis too. Experiencing hallucinations and delusions doesn't mean you have schizophrenia. Mania and depression can definitely cause psychotic symptoms especially if one is sleep deprived.

You have to meet the criteria for schizophrenia as well. Have you had psychotic symptoms for a minimum of 6 months? Do you have other symptoms of schizophrenia?

A lot of people seem to get misdiagnosed with this disorder. PTSD, BPD, psychotic depression, delusional disorder, epilepsy, vitamin deficiencies, and hormonal disorders can cause psychotic symptoms. Substance abuse is another.

[CrazyLo]

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

I would doubt the diagnosis too. Experiencing hallucinations and delusions doesn't mean you have schizophrenia. Mania and depression can definitely cause psychotic symptoms especially if one is sleep deprived.

You have to meet the criteria for schizophrenia as well. Have you had psychotic symptoms for a minimum of 6 months? Do you have other symptoms of schizophrenia?

A lot of people seem to get misdiagnosed with this disorder. PTSD, BPD, psychotic depression, delusional disorder, epilepsy, vitamin deficiencies, and hormonal disorders can cause psychotic symptoms. Substance abuse is another.

A couple of years ago I had psychosis but I was severely depressed at the time. I haven't had any more psychosis until the beginning of this summer up until now. I'm not sure what to think because my delusions and paranoia are already coming back but I don't really feel depressed and I'm not really having symptoms of mania other than anxiety and less sleep. But before when I was manic I had pretty much every euphoric symptom in existence. But to answer your question, no I haven't had psychosis for 6 months. But I do fit the criteria for having bizarre delusions and having paranoia. Staff while I was in the hospital would tell me that my delusions were pretty unique and interesting and somewhat scary. For me it only got scary once I became paranoid. But anyway, my outpatient therapist is uncertain of the diagnosis, too. I suppose time will tell if I'm schizoaffective or simply bipolar.

they love to re-diagnose former bps to sza bp type. i am seeing a trend.

[CopperStar]

I think it can also add to the confusion if a person has been having BP episodes for so long, that it becomes their 'normal'. I've wondered if that's the case for me since I've gone so many years without proper treatment/help. All I tend to really notice in my worst episodes is the psychosis. Anything else seems trivial when that's going on.

[SillyKitty]

There is a booklet called Schizoaffective Disorder Simplified by Martine Daniel on the Kindle App. I haven't seen it anywhere else.

I went from BP to Schizoaffective BP because I was completely stable mood wise, but "could" read minds, influence thoughts, smell cancer, see spirits, etc for several months. I had a godlike voice telling me to kill my husband and myself. Even how to do it. It ran on a loop inside my head like a movie clip. The ip I went to said I was depressed with psychosis, but my pdoc knew me well and knew I was not depressed. If I had been depressed, I wouldn't have taken myself to the er. I was terrified that if I didn't get locked up I'd give in to that voice. I've been inpatient three times in two years because of that.

[CrazyLo]

Originally Posted by SillyKitty

There is a booklet called Schizoaffective Disorder Simplified by Martine Daniel on the Kindle App. I haven't seen it anywhere else.

I'm gonna have to look for that, thanks!

Yeah...I dunno. It's been a few days since I've been out of the hospital. I'm not depressed. I'm not manic. But the delusions and paranoia are still there. But maybe I'm depressed and just don't know it. Or maybe I'm hypomanic. Or something. Why is it so hard to tell? I have no clue what my "normal" is. Most of my left I've been depressed so I really don't know what normal feels like. It's only been the past couple years that I've been dealing with mania. Before that, I was always depressed. But I don't feel depressed right now. I'm pretty energetic today but not so energetic that I'm restless and agitated. My delusions are getting more complex and expanding...but it's not so severe right now that I can't manage...obviously since I'm aware they aren't real at the moment. I think this schizoaffective should be treated more as a rule-out rather than jumping on the diagnosis without enough time and evidence.

[Mrsmac42]

I found the online leaflet by the Royal College of Psychiatrists very helpful when I was diagnosed with schizoaffective. Don't know whether it is available in U.S. I was very worried because my delusions were a major pointer to schizophrenia (ie believing you were another person.) This on-line leaflet answered all my worries in a very kindly way.

[Goldcrest]

This is the link to the Royal College of Psychiatrists leaflet:

Schizoaffective Disorder

Another useful site is the mental health charity Mind:

Schizoaffective disorder | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems

[CrazyLo]

Thank you for the readings! I will make sure to read them!

[CrazyLo]

The leaflet was extremely helpful.

I could especially relate to this part:
Thought disorder/muddled thinking
You find it hard to concentrate as your thoughts seem fuzzy or muddled. Your thinking feels bizarre and disconnected. You may be unable to finish a book that you have been reading or follow a TV programme.

The muddled thinking may affect your speech, so you may jump from one topic to another and after a while, you may not be able to remember what you were trying to say in the first place. This makes it difficult for people to follow your conversation.

You may believe that your thoughts are being interfered with:

someone or something is able to insert thoughts in your mind (you may feel like a particular thought it not yours);
someone or something is taking certain thoughts out of your mind - that your thoughts are disappearing.
Sometimes you may feel that other people can hear your thoughts or have access to them in some way.

I definitely believed people could hear my thoughts and I had the ability of mind control because my thoughts could strongly influence people's actions. Then I became paranoid that my thoughts were leaking and eventually it lead to believe that entities called Hummies lived inside the walls and were trying to steal my music and the whole thing became really complex so I won't go into details. I also had delusions that came out of the blue, that I was the goddess of music and that the entities came from musicians brains that were looking for inspiration from the music goddess (who was me). So I had a lot of paranoid thoughts and actions revolving around these beliefs.

Also, I had recently been manic before these delusions and paranoid thoughts entered my head. By the time I was fully delusional one morning, I didn't have any manic symptoms other than restlessness which is probably more due to the fact that I'm ADHD and not currently on my medication for it.

I'm going to show this leaflet to my therapist...so thank you! Now I'm going to look at the other link you provided.

[CrazyLo]

The other link...this explains the diagnosis criteria way better:

For a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder:

you have to have both psychotic symptoms and mood symptoms at the same time for part of an episode
in the same episode, you also have to have a period with only psychotic symptoms
you also have to have the mood symptoms for a substantial part of the episode.

While I was in the hospital and after I got out, I was having the psychotic symptoms without mania or depression. But when the delusions first started (outside of the hospital) I was feeling excited and elated but it was because I was super excited about my new-found ability of mind control.

Anyway, I'm still having some psychotic symptoms but I think they are more residual. I'm noticing that right now I'm probably hypomanic at the least...but not depressed.

Thanks!

[Sesiley]

I had mostly delusions. I was chosen person by God with the end of the world, I was psychic, people were talking about me, my husband was cheating on me, my son was evil, I would hear my name being called it sleep and yell at me, wake me up. I can see things with my eyes closed, very vivid couldn't control, I have two out of body experiences where I wasn't me, it was something else demonic oppression and posession. Just weird crap. I thought it was all normal until I was diagnosed

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[Chuds]

Originally Posted by Goldcrest

This is the link to the Royal College of Psychiatrists leaflet:

Schizoaffective Disorder

Another useful site is the mental health charity Mind:

Schizoaffective disorder | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems

Thank you Great sources