Schizoaffective disorder vs Schizophrenia with Symptoms and Types

Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects the brain to the impossibility of being cured. However, only one percent of the world population gets affected by this mental illness. Though incurable, there are number of treatments that are developed to minimize the symptoms of Schizophrenia. These treatments are outcome of deep study and years of research on genetics, surveys on human behaviors and detailed observation of human brain.

Schizophrenic Disorder

The schizophrenic disorder is often confused with bipolar, multiple-personality or split-personality disorders. However, these disorders along with their symptoms are different from Schizophrenia and their treatments to are completely different.

The people with schizophrenia live among us. Mostly they’re hard to spot in public as they can be mostly all normal. They do live with their families and go to school and their workplaces as well.

Symptoms of schizophrenia

The symptoms of schizophrenia appear in different age groups in men and women. In women, they generally appear in 26 to 35 years as per the expert reports. In men they appear earlier, like in early 20s. The most common signs that show the presence of this disorder are poor work and school performance, demotivation in every little task and inability to keep relationships sound and stable. Nevertheless, a psychiatrist can tell if the person is actually having the accurate symptoms by way of questioning the patient and a detailed medical examination.

So, a schizophrenic patient would experience the following symptoms to be exact:

• Hallucinations like unreal voices, delusions, exaggerated beliefs and abnormal behavior.
• Loss of skill or ability to plan and failure to think normally.
• Weird body movements and disorder in speaking.
• Lack of concentration and focus, poor memory and bad performance in academics.

Difference between Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is not similar to schizophrenia. Both the disorders are distinct in symptoms and treatment. The main difference between the both is the excessive presence of mood symptoms in schizoaffective disorder which are not that hell of a problem in schizophrenia.

Other symptoms in a schizoaffective disorder are:

• Recklessness in maintenance of hygiene, personal care and physical appearance.
• Sudden mood changes to the extremes of sadness and happiness; excitement and depression.
• Delusions and hallucinations just like they’re present in the schizophrenic disorder.
• Suicidal talks showing the intent to commit suicide using disturbing means.

Types of Schizoaffective Disorder

The schizoaffective disorder is classified into two major types:

1. Bipolar type schizoaffective disorder
2. Depressive type schizoaffective disorder

In bipolar type disorder, the person experiences episodes of depression and mania at the same time.

Depression is the feeling of despair and dejection when the person feels that they are not needed anymore. They should be treated with immense care at this stage.

Mania is when the patient is caught by extreme levels of euphoria or excitement, along with over-activity and delusions. The energy level in mania rises abnormally.

Difference between the treatments

For the schizophrenic patients, the treatment is mainly antipsychotic medication whereas the people with schizoaffective disorder are given antipsychotic drugs as well as antidepressants.

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Facts about Schizoaffective Disorders:

• Usually, schizophrenic symptoms are prevalent in the early 20s to 30s.
• There is no precise cause of this disease; it is mostly genetic.
• A person can have it in his entire life or a few years.
• 1 out of 100 suffers from this disease at any time of his/her life.