Can Bipolar Disorder Cause Schizophrenia

What Are The Symptoms Of Schizoaffective Disorder

Symptoms of schizoaffective disorder are:

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a mental illness which affects the way you think. Symptoms can effect how you cope with day to day life. Symptoms include.

• Hallucinations. You may hear, see, or feel things that arent there.
• Delusions. You may believe things that arent true.
• Disorganised speech. You may begin to talk quickly or slowly, and the things you say might not make sense to other people. You may switch topics without any obvious link.
• Disorganised behaviour. You might struggle to organise your life, or stick to appointments, for example.
• Catatonic behaviour. You may feel unable to move or appear to be in daze.
• Negative symptoms. These are symptoms that involve loss of ability and enjoyment in life. They can include the following things.
• Lack of motivation

You can find more information about Schizophrenia by clicking here.

What are the symptoms of mania?

You may experience the following if you have mania.

Mania is associated with bipolar disorder.

You can find more information about Bipolar disorder by clicking here.

What are the symptoms of depression?

You may feel the following if you have depressive symptoms.

• Low mood,
• Sleep too much, not being able to sleep or have disturbed sleep,
• More or less hungry than usual or have a weight change, or
• Thoughts of death or suicide or attempt suicide.

You can find more information about Depression by clicking here.

Is Bipolar 1 Or 2 Worse

The manic episodes of bipolar 1 are typically worse than the hypomanic episodes of bipolar 2. Bipolar disorders are a group of mental disorders that cause dramatic changes in a persons mood, activity level, and ability to function. People who have bipolar disorders have emotional states that are extreme and intense.

Complications Schizoaffective Disorder And Suicide

There are many potential complications of living with schizoaffective disorder of any type, but the most serious and life-threatening is suicide. Someone with bipolar schizoaffective disorder experiences symptoms of three types of mental illness or mental health episodesschizophrenia, depression, and maniathat are risk factors for suicidal thoughts.

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What Are The Types Of Schizoaffective Disorder

There are two types of schizoaffective disorder: bipolar schizoaffective disorder and depressive schizoaffective disorder. The two types are based on the associated mood disorder the person has:

• Bipolar disorder type: This condition features one or two types of different mood changes. People with bipolar disorder have severe highs alone or combined with lows .
• Depressive type: People who have depression have feelings of sadness, worthlessness and hopelessness. They may have suicidal thoughts. They may also experience concentration and memory problems.

Community Mental Health Team

If a diagnosis of schizophrenia is suspected, the GP should refer you to your local community mental health team .

CMHTs are made up of different mental health professionals who support people with complex mental health conditions.

A member of the CMHT team, usually a psychiatrist or a specialist nurse, will carry out a more detailed assessment of your symptoms. They’ll also want to know your personal history and current circumstances.

To make a diagnosis, most mental healthcare professionals use a diagnostic checklist.

Schizophrenia can usually be diagnosed if:

• you’ve experienced 1 or more of the following symptoms most of the time for a month:;delusions, hallucinations,;hearing voices, incoherent speech,;or negative symptoms, such as a flattening of emotions
• your symptoms have had a significant impact on your ability to work, study or perform daily tasks
• all other possible causes, such as recreational drug use or bipolar disorder, have been ruled out

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How Is Schizoaffective Disorder Diagnosed

A psychiatrist will diagnose schizoaffective disorder after a mental health assessment. It might take more than one assessment for the psychiatrist to reach a diagnosis. You may get a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder if you have depressive or manic symptoms with symptoms of schizophrenia.

Psychiatrists will use the following manuals to help to diagnose you:

• International Classification of Diseases produced by the World Health Organisation
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual produced by the American Psychiatric Association.

The manuals are guides which explain different mental health conditions and their symptoms. They also explain how long certain symptoms should last for before a diagnosis should be made.

To get a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder you should have had a combination of symptoms of both psychosis and bi-polar disorder. Your symptoms should be clearly there for at least 2 weeks.

What Medications Treat Schizoaffective Disorder

The provider will figure out the right medicine based on the type of mood disorder the person has:

• Antipsychotics: This is the primary medicine used to treat the psychotic symptoms that come with schizophrenia for example, delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking.
• Antidepressants: An antidepressant or mood stabilizer such as lithium can help treat mood-related symptoms. Sometimes, a person needs both an antidepressant and an antipsychotic.

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What Is The Main Cause Of Bipolar Disorder

What is the main cause of bipolar disorder? Bipolar disorder is widely believed to be the result of chemical imbalances in the brain. The chemicals responsible for controlling the brains functions are called neurotransmitters, and include noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine.

Are you born with bipolar disorder or can you develop it?;Scientists believe that bipolar disorder is the result of a complicated relationship between genetic and environmental factors. Research suggests that a person is born with a vulnerability to bipolar illness, which means that they are more prone to developing the disorder.

At what age does bipolar disorder most frequently emerge?;The average age-of-onset is about 25, but it can occur in the teens, or more uncommonly, in childhood. The condition affects men and women equally, with about 2.8% of the U.S. population diagnosed with bipolar disorder and nearly 83% of cases classified as severe.

Can bipolar go away?;Although the symptoms come and go, bipolar disorder usually requires lifetime treatment and does not go away on its own. Bipolar disorder can be an important factor in suicide, job loss, and family discord, but proper treatment leads to better outcomes.

What Is Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, which was previously referred to as manic depression, causes extreme swings in mood between depression and mania. The condition causes a person to cycle between extreme highs and lows in mood, which can be very disruptive and difficult to manage. In some people the cycle may be infrequent, while in others it can be a rapid process with several episodes per year. In the times between depressive and manic episodes a person may feel fine or may have some mood and emotional symptoms.

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Differences Between Bipolar Disorder And Schizophrenia

Psychosis, which includes hallucinations and delusions, is a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia. People with bipolar I disorder can have psychotic symptoms during mania and/or depression, and those with bipolar II can have them during an episode of depression. So while bipolar disorder and schizophrenia can share a set of serious symptoms, when distinguishing between the two disorders, doctors look at the differences between symptoms and also give different weight to some of the shared symptoms.

Different Patterns Of Mental Illness Linked To Candida In Men Women

For their study, the team tested blood samples from 808 people aged 18-65 for antibody evidence of a previous or current infection with Candida. The group included 261 individuals with schizophrenia, 270 people with bipolar disorder, and 277 without a history of mental disorder .

The researchers also included data from another group of 139 people with first-episode schizophrenia, 78 of whom had not yet been treated with medication.

After taking into account factors that could skew the results such as age, race, medication, and socioeconomic status the researchers looked for links between mental illness and yeast infection .

Overall, there was no link between presence of mental illness and current or previous yeast infection. It was when the team drilled down to look at men and women separately that the patterns emerged.

For example, in the men, they found 26 percent of those with schizophrenia had a current or previous Candida infection, compared with only 14 percent of the male controls.

However, among women, while a greater proportion had a current or previous yeast infection, the difference between those with schizophrenia and the controls was much smaller .

Men with bipolar disorder showed a similar higher rate of Candida infection, compared with controls .

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What Bipolar Disorder Looks Like

If you have bipolar disorder, your mood can have big shifts. You may have periods called mania, when you feel extremely happy and full of energy. But you may also go into a depression phase and start to feel sad and hopeless.

There are two main types of bipolar disorder, which vary in how serious your episodes get and how long they last.

Bipolar I disorder involves periods of full-blown mania. You may have high energy, behave recklessly, and act in an extremely impulsive way.

If you have bipolar II disorder, you’ll get “low-grade” periods of mania. When that happens, you might have “up” moods and high energy, but your symptoms don’t get in the way of your daily life.

With severe bipolar disorder, you may have hallucinations, where you see or hear things that aren’t there. You may also have delusions, where you firmly believe in something that just isn’t true. This is when it’s easy to confuse bipolar disorder for schizophrenia.

Some signs that you’ve got bipolar disorder are:

Mania symptoms. When you’re in an “up” period, you may feel:

• Easily triggered or set off
• Full of energy and great ideas
• Happy and bursting with joy
• Jumpy or wired

• Keep jumping from one activity to the next
• Stop eating or sleeping
• Talk fast and have thoughts that are all over the place
• Think you can do anything, so you do something risky like spend money you don’t have

Depression symptoms. When your mood swings to a depressed phase, you may feel:

Frequently Asked Questions About Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very disabling.

Schizophrenia;is a severe and debilitating brain and behavior disorder affecting how one thinks, feels and acts. People with schizophrenia can have trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy, expressing and managing normal emotions and making decisions. Thought processes may also be disorganized and the motivation to engage in lifes activities may be blunted. Those with the condition may hear imaginary voices and believe others are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts or plotting to harm them.

While schizophrenia is a chronic disorder, it can be treated with medication, psychological and social treatments, substantially improving the lives of people with the condition.

A;moving presentation by Dr. Kafui Dzirasa on Schizophrenia

View Webinar on Identifying Risk Factors and Protective Pathways for Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia affects men and women equally. It occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world. Symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions usually start between ages 16 and 30.

Learn more about childhood-onset schizophrenia from this expert researcher:

Find answers to more questions about Schizophrenia in our Ask the Expert section.

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Frequency And Ages Affected

Bipolar disorder affects approximately 2.2 percent of people in the United States. Typically, it first appears between the late teen years and early adulthood. Children can also show signs of bipolar disorder.

Schizophrenia isnt as common as bipolar disorder. It affects 1.1 percent of the U.S. population. People usually learn they have it between the ages of 16 and 30. Schizophrenia isnt usually seen in children.

Are There Different Types Of Schizoaffective Disorder

There are 3 main types of schizoaffective disorder:

What is manic type?

This means you have symptoms of schizophrenia and mania at the same time through a period of illness.

What is depressive type?

This means you have symptoms of schizophrenia and depression at the same time through a period of illness.

What is mixed type?

This means you have symptoms of schizophrenia, depression and mania through a period of illness.

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Treatment Of Schizoaffective Disorder

Treatment includes:

• Medication: What you take depends on whether you have symptoms of depression or bipolar disorder, along with symptoms that suggest schizophrenia. The main medications that doctors prescribe for psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking are called antipsychotics. All these drugs can probably help with schizoaffective disorder, but paliperidone extended release is the only drug that the FDA has approved to treat it. For mood-related symptoms, you might take an antidepressant medication or a mood stabilizer.
• Psychotherapy: The goal of this type of counseling is to help you learn about your illness, set goals, and manage everyday problems related to the disorder. Family therapy can help families get better at relating to and helping a loved one who has schizoaffective disorder.
• Skills training: This generally focuses on work and social skills, grooming and self-care, and other day-to-day activities, including money and home management.
• Hospitalization: Psychotic episodes may require a hospital stay, especially if youâre suicidal or threaten to hurt others.
• Electroconvulsive therapy: This treatment may be an option for adults who donât respond to psychotherapy or medications. It involves sending a quick electric current through your brain. It causes a brief seizure. Doctors use it because they think it changes your brain chemistry and may reverse some conditions.

This condition may raise your risk of:

How Long Can A Bipolar High Last

Untreated, an episode of mania can last anywhere from a few days to several months. Most commonly, symptoms continue for a few weeks to a few months. Depression may follow shortly after, or not appear for weeks or months. Many people with bipolar I disorder experience long periods without symptoms in between episodes.

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What Schizophrenia Looks Like

When you have schizophrenia, you may have some of these symptoms:

Hallucinations. You see things or hear voices that aren’t there.

Delusions. You totally believe something that isn’t true, like thinking someone’s out to get you.

Confused thoughts. Also called disorganized thinking, you can’t stay focused and might feel foggy or hazy. Your speech may also be hard to follow.

Behavior and thought changes. The way you act becomes less normal. You may shout for no clear reason. You may even think that someone’s taking over your body.

Unusual body movements. You may move in odd, disturbed ways or hold postures that don’t make sense.

You may also find that you no longer do things that you used to, such as:

• Enjoy activities

Getting Help For Bipolar Schizoaffective Disorder

Anyone who recognizes any of these symptoms in themselves, or who is troubled by their thoughts and behaviors, or worried about hearing and seeing things that other people dont hear or see, should seek help right away. Telling a friend or a family member is a good place to start, but seeing a doctor or mental health professional is the next important step. Even just seeing ones general practitioner is a great step, because that doctor can recommend a specialist or what to do next.

Friends and family play an important role in getting help for someone who is struggling. It is common to be unaware of ones own symptoms, and it is often easier for someone else to recognize them first. It is crucial to offer help or to get someone help who is exhibiting symptoms of a mental illness or whose behaviors just dont seem right and have changed from what is normal.

Schizoaffective disorder bipolar type is not an illness to be taken lightly. Without diagnosis and treatment, there are many potential complications that can cause myriad problems and even be life-threatening. Professional diagnosis, multi-faceted treatment, and support from friends and family are crucial for helping someone with this condition return to a better way of life, with relief from difficult symptoms.

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Defining Disorders For Genetic Research

The way in which schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder are defined can have a substantial effect on the patterns of genetic relationships between them. The most common approach in psychiatric genetics research is to assign a single main-lifetime diagnosis to each individual using the relevant version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or another operational diagnostic classification system, based on the predominant clinical picture during a persons lifetime. A notable exception is the large-scale Scandinavian population register-based family studies, which usually employ International Classification of Diseases clinical diagnoses. These tend to have lower interrater reliability than operational research diagnoses, but this is mitigated by the high-quality epidemiological foundations and large sample sizes of the register-based studies.

Genetic Influences On The Individual Disorders

Prior to consideration of genetic relationships between schizophrenia, bipolar, and schizoaffective disorders, it is relevant to summarize the evidence for genetic influences on the individual disorders.

Results of family, twin, and adoption studies show a notably similar pattern for each disorder. Traditional family studies conducted during the 20th century based on clinically ascertained samples show substantial familial aggregation, with sibling relative risks of around 810 for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder.,, More recently, considerably larger studies, based on Scandinavian national population registers, have substantiated the results of the earlier family studies.,, Results from the largest study, based on over 2 million families, are shown in .

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