Mental disorders can be misunderstood as not everyone is born with the knowledge or information about these mental health issues. Similarly, many who are not knowledgeable about the subject matter, often confuse both schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder as the same thing. They are similar but are also very different from each other and we are here to discuss that, so let’s begin in the words below and end this debate of schizoaffective disorder vs schizophrenia:
What is Schizophrenia?
When it comes to the debate of schizoaffective disorder versus schizophrenia, it is more important to know about schizophrenia first and you will understand later why that is the case. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is defined by its symptoms, namely hallucinations and delusions (which together with disorganized behavior make up psychosis), and leads affected individuals to have a break from reality. We can also say that schizophrenia is a kind of psychosis as like psychosis it affects a person’s ability to perceive what is real and what is not, in addition to displaying disorganized behavior such as disorganized speech. You are now probably a bit more about
To have schizophrenia, you need to display at least one of these three predominant symptoms of the said disease, which should persist for 6 months or so:
Read More: Myths And Facts About Schizophrenia
Hallucinations: Seeing, hearing, and feeling things that are not there
Delusions: Unrelenting and stubborn beliefs that are not true
Disorganized behavior: Things such as disorganized thinking and speech
Symptoms of schizophrenia can also be divided into 3 different categories, namely positive, negative, and cognitive. These are also important for understanding the difference between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder
- Positive: These are the symptoms that are not typically present in healthy individuals, such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and speech. These are considered positive because they do not impact an affected individual’s life and actually add to their experience.
- Negative: These symptoms refer to a lack of normal behaviors and emotions that can impact an affected individual’s life, especially their socializing skills like reduced emotional expression, lack of motivation, and social withdrawal.
- Cognitive: These symptoms involve difficulties that impact an individual’s thinking and processing of information, for example, memory problems, attention issues, and problematic decision-making.
Defining Schizoaffective Disorder
When it comes to the analysis of the schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder debate, understanding schizoaffective disorder is also important. As we have mentioned before, to understand schizoaffective disorder you had to know about schizophrenia, and now you will understand why this was the case. Well, schizoaffective disorder is a combination of schizophrenia and mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or clinical depression. It is a less common disorder than schizophrenia as it only affects about 0.3% of the population when compared to schizophrenia, which affects 1 in 300 people (0.32%) worldwide.
Read More: The Connection Between Schizophrenia and Bipolar
Symptoms of Schizoaffective Disorder
The symptoms of schizoaffective disorder vary considerably from person to person, but usually a mixture of psychotic symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking) – this is where the similarities end – and mood symptoms (depression or mania).
The psychotic symptoms of schizoaffective disorder are similar to those of schizophrenia, but the mood symptoms set it apart. These mood symptoms can include periods of depression, mania, or a mix of both (known as a mixed episode) often blurring the lines between symptoms of bipolar or major depressive disorder (MDD).
Schizoaffective Disorder vs Schizophrenia
Here’s a chart that can help you find the difference between schizoaffective and schizophrenia, so see below:
| Condition | Critical symptoms | Depression symptoms | Mania symptoms |
| Schizophrenia | Hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized behavior. | No. | No. |
| Depressive-type schizoaffective disorder | Hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized behavior. | Yes. | No. |
| Bipolar-type schizoaffective disorder | Hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized behavior. | Maybe. | Yes |
As we have said before, the main difference between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder is the presence of mood symptoms. Both of these combined make the said disorder all the more debilitating as it is not just about simple anxiety or having just one debilitating mental condition like PTSD as schizoaffective is much more effective in hindering everyday life. In schizophrenia, mood symptoms are not present (which by themselves are extremely debilitating), while in schizoaffective disorder, they are a defining feature. Even the psychotic symptoms in schizoaffective disorder come and go in episodic style while in schizophrenia these symptoms tend to be more persistent.
Read More: Disorganized Schizophrenia: Understanding The Disorder And Its Challenges
Diagnosis and Treatment
Now that we have answered questions like “How is schizoaffective disorder different from schizophrenia?” and “Is schizoaffective disorder the same as schizophrenia?”, it is time we talked about diagnosing and treating schizoaffective disorder vs schizophrenia.
Schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia currently have different diagnostic criteria as per the current gold standard for the diagnosis of all mental illnesses – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision — DSM-5-TR. Moreover, many believe schizoaffective disorder is a type of schizophrenia but still these should be treated as separate entities keeping in view the debate of schizoaffective disorder symptoms vs schizophrenia.
Diagnosing Schizoaffective
For a doctor to diagnose schizoaffective disorder, the affected individual should have the following:
- Ensure symptoms are stemming from the misuse of medications or drugs
- You are not experiencing delusions or hallucinations without a major mood episode for 2 weeks or more
- You are not experiencing a period during which either mania or depression occurs at the same time as hallucinations or delusions
- You don’t have major mood episode symptoms that occur for the majority of mental health disorders
Diagnosing Schizophrenia
It is often difficult for doctors to ascertain what kind of mental illness it is when it comes to schizophrenia symptoms. Additionally, people who are affected by this mental disease do not believe that they are suffering from it. Additionally, no lab or diagnostic test in existence can accurately diagnose schizophrenia and provide the difference between schizophrenia and schizoaffective. What can be done is a mental health professional can monitor the situation of the affected individual for around 6 months and then finally rule out if these symptoms are not related to other issues such as a brain tumor. To truly diagnose schizophrenia a person has to display two or more of the following:
- hallucinations
- delusions
- negative symptoms
- catatonic or disorganized behavior
- disorganized speech
Read More: Schizophrenia and Insomnia: Understanding the Link and Coping Strategies
Treating Schizoaffective Disorder vs Schizophrenia
A person living with either condition may receive similar treatments as both of the disorders – schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia share the same treatment approaches as seen below.
- Medication or psychiatric medication management to address hallucinations and delusions
- psychotherapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or family-focused therapies like couples therapy or marriage therapy
- psychoeducation about their condition, and training on management strategies & coping strategies for both the disorders
- A person living with schizoaffective disorder will also need treatment for mood disorders, such as depression. This may include medications such as mood stabilizers like carbamazepine, divalproex, and lamotrigine or antidepressants like SSRIs.
Read More: The First Phase of Schizophrenia: Prodromal Schizophrenia
Conclusion
This is the end of the line here. We have discussed everything related to schizoaffective disorder vs schizophrenia, including the difference between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. If you are looking for treatment then look no further than Solid Foundation Psychiatry for treatment methods such as the ones mentioned above and alternative ones such as telehealth psychiatry and not just for the disorders talked about here but also something like insomnia. Looking forward to your appointment.