Schizoaffective disorders
Someone who constantly has symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorders could be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. There are two main types of schizoaffective disorders: bipolar and depressive. A diagnosis is usually given when someone meets the specific criteria:
- There has to be a major mood episode, which could be either depression or mania, which occurs at the same time as schizophrenia;
- Delusions or hallucinations for more than 2 weeks without a major mood episode;
- Symptoms of an important mood episode must be noticed throughout the entire duration of the illness.
- Dr*g use and medications must be ruled out as possible triggers.
It’s worth mentioning that the link between psychosis episodes and mood disorder symptoms has been a controversial issue for a long time, especially in psychiatry. For example, schizoaffective disorder is an incredibly unreliable diagnosis, which led many experts to believe that it might be a completely separate disorder.
