Schizophrenia & Schizoaffective Disorders

Schizoaffective.....

Schizoaffective disorder, as defined by the Mayo clinic, is a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania. Frankly, this can sound horrible to a newcomer.

Let me simplify it. A schizoaffective diagnosis is a thought and mood disorder.

What causes schizoaffective illness in a person? Genetics may play a part as families with a history of psychotic disorders may increase the risk. A background with child abuse or taking illegal substances can make it worse.

There are two types of schizoaffectiveness. You can have the bipolar type where your mood swings from depression to mania. The other type is depressive where the mood stays low.

The schizo- part involves any number of hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, etc. We will break these down into easy to understand ideas.

Hallucinations may affect your vision, sense of smell, taste, hearing, or bodily sensations. Visual hallucinations are seen with your eyes. Many patients complain about shadow people or animals. These are examples of this type of hallucination. Auditory ones are heard either internally (inside their head) or externally (as an outside voice). This can manifest as a command voice telling the person to do something. Olfactory ones are through your sense of smell. I often smell burning food when nothing is cooking. Gustatory ones center on your taste buds. Metallic tastes from food or drink are common. Finally tactile hallucinations are the feel of something on your body. When you hear of bugs crawling on patients, this is one example.

Hallucinations are different from delusions. Hallucinations deal with your senses while a delusion is a fixed false belief. There are six main type of delusions.

Erotomania is the belief that someone-sometimes fictional-is in love with you. This person can be a celebrity, politician or anyone that is in a position of power or celebrity. The patient believes that they are in a relationship with their subject.

Grandiose delusions are focused on the person believing they are powerful, special, unique, etc. Their ego is inflated over their perceived abilities and accomplishments.

Jealous based delusions focus on a relationship-romantic or otherwise-where the other person has wronged the patient in some way. If it is a romantic partner, the patient thinks they cheated on them.

Persecutory delusions are based on the belief that someone is ‘out to get them’ and may lead the patient to file charges with the police. Another example is the belief that the government is spying on them through their phone or tv.

Somatic delusions are medical in nature. The patient believes they have a disease or condition needing medical care. They may doctor shop looking for attention.

A mixed delusion diagnosis is where two or more of the above delusions occur in a patient.

The major part of treatment for this disorder will be medications. It is important to know that there is not one medicine that will help with the symptoms. What works for one person may not work for another person. What works for you now may stop working in a few years. The good thing to know is that there are medications coming out every few years.

Talk therapy can play a big role for everyone involved in the patient’s life. First and foremost, patient education is key. Understanding your illness in plain and simple terms can help you navigate treatment options. Family and loved ones can participate in therapy to learn how to better support you. It is also helpful to learn how to remove stressors that can cause symptoms to get worse. Grounding techniques are also helpful.

Feeling alone and isolated is a problem for many mentally ill people. NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) has a website at: www.nami.org

Facebook has many peer supported groups. In some cities, there are local groups meeting either daily or weekly. Since not everyone can effectively meet in person, it is important to create a supportive network of people to help with day to day needs. Creating a support network should be discussed and re-evaluated every year or as necessary.

This is but a short and brief introduction to the illness. Do not be afraid to write questions down for your care team. The more you understand, the better you will be in the future.

Schizophrenia....

Schizophrenia is a serious thought disorder affecting both men and women. It typically is diagnosed anywhere from fifteen to thirty years old. This disorder is mainly known for hallucinations and delusions.

Hallucinations may affect your vision, sense of smell, taste, hearing, or bodily sensations. Visual hallucinations are seen with your eyes. Many patients complain about shadow people or animals. These are examples of this type of hallucination. Auditory ones are heard either internally (inside their head) or externally (as an outside voice). This can manifest as a command voice telling the person to do something. Olfactory ones are through your sense of smell. I often smell burning food when nothing is cooking. Gustatory ones center on your taste buds. Metallic tastes from food or drink are common. Finally tactile hallucinations are the feel of something on your body. When you hear of bugs crawling on patients, this is one example.

Hallucinations are different from delusions. Hallucinations deal with your senses while a delusion is a fixed false belief. There are six main type of delusions.

Erotomania is the belief that someone-sometimes fictional-is in love with you. This person can be a celebrity, politician or anyone that is in a position of power or celebrity. The patient believes that they are in a relationship with their subject.

Grandiose delusions are focused on the person believing they are powerful, special, unique, etc. Their ego is inflated over their perceived abilities and accomplishments.

Jealous based delusions focus on a relationship-romantic or otherwise-where the other person has wronged the patient in some way. If it is a romantic partner, the patient thinks they cheated on them.

Persecutory delusions are based on the belief that someone is ‘out to get them’ and may lead the patient to file charges with the police. Another example is the belief that the government is spying on them through their phone or tv.

Somatic delusions are medical in nature. The patient believes they have a disease or condition needing medical care. They may doctor shop looking for attention.

A mixed delusion diagnosis is where two or more of the above delusions occur in a patient.

Schizophrenic patients also suffer from cognitive symptoms that include problems in attention, concentration, and memory.

Many times patients hear about positive and negative symptoms with their disorder. Positive symptoms are highly exaggerated ideas, perceptions, or actions that show the person can’t tell what’s real from what isn’t. Here the word "positive" means the presence of troubling symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, trouble thinking clearly, trouble with concentration and movement disorders. Negative symptoms refer to an absence or lack of normal mental function involving thinking, behavior, and perception. Lack of pleasure in things, lack of motivation and a flat effect are some examples of negative symptoms.

Treatment for schizophrenia involves medications to treat symptoms such as antipsychotics. There is also talk therapy to raise awareness of the illness and to learn coping skills to deal with symptoms. It is important for the patient to adhere to medication treatments. Family and loved ones can help the patient in many ways. A solid support system can help the patient stay well for longer periods of time. NAMI (www.nami.org) is a great place to start.

Thank you for reading this brief introduction to schizophrenia. If you have questions, contact your care team for more detailed answers.