The debate of bipolar vs schizophrenia has been going on for some time now but is it even there even though both the mental conditions are vastly different from each other? This is what we are here to find out in the words below. But before we do that, we will go over some basics first and then go about explaining the real difference between bipolar and schizophrenia and anything else related to that.
Defining Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar is a type of mood disorder that is characterized by two extreme moods that lie on the opposite sides of the spectrum of different moods. When it comes to the tale of bipolar vs schizophrenia, it is as ruthless as the latter because of how it is able to handicap the affected individual. The two extreme moods, mania and depression can affect the executive function of the person who is found to be afflicted with it.
Patients with bipolar disorder often experience difficulties with executive functioning that persist even in the absence of a mood episode. The deficiency in executive functioning is especially high during any of the episodes. Mania is recognizable through symptoms such as excessive happiness, excitability, and great bouts of energy. Depression, on the other hand, is defined by extreme sadness, irritability, perpetual depression, and threats of violence that derive from insidious anger. Bipolar comes in many different types due to the nature of differences of instances in the episodes and the intervals between them, especially considering that this can also help find distinctions between bipolar and schizophrenia:
Read More: Myths And Facts About Schizophrenia
Bipolar 1
Characterized by mania episodes that last for 7 days or more, or extreme form of mania that essentially requires hospitalization. At times, a depression episode can also arrive that can last up to 2 weeks or more.
Bipolar 2
This one usually features both episodes, but the episodes of mania are much less intensive in bipolar 2, which is also called hypomania by mental health experts. A major depressive episode preceding or following a manic episode is the highlight of this type.
Cyclothymic disorder
Cyclothema, as it is also known, is characterized by symptoms of hypomania and depression that last for 2 years or more in adults or 1 year in children.
Defining Schizophrenia
When it comes to the debate of bipolar vs schizophrenia, the latter is usually characterized by symptoms such as excessive hallucinations and grandiose delusions (so basically an extreme form of psychosis) plus disordered speech. Like bipolar, schizophrenia too can handicap the everyday life of the affected individual if it is left untreated.
Read More: A Comprehensive Guide To Anxiety And Schizophrenia
So, Why Do People Confuse Bipolar and Schizophrenia?
Suppose both of these mental conditions are so different why are people getting into the debate of bipolar vs schizophrenia? Two words: Schizoaffective disorder. This is the type of mental condition that essentially marks the combination of symptoms from schizophrenia, including hallucinations, and delusions and from bipolar, such as depression, mania, and a milder form of mania, which is called hypomania.
Schizoaffective can be literally bipolar, where episodes can be manic or depressive interspersed with psychosis like schizophrenia and the depressive type, which is often characterized by major depressive episodes with hallucinations and delusions tagging along. How schizoaffective disorder starts and how it affects people may vary but looking at the symptoms below, you can still see the distinction between bipolar, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective itself:
- Delusions such as having false, fixed beliefs that are essentially irrational
- Hallucinations, such as hearing voices or seeing things, which others can’t see
- Long bouts of clinical depression if one is suffering from the depression type
- Interspersed bouts of different episodes of mania and depression if one is suffering from the bipolar type
- Decreased executive functioning that handicaps everyday life
- Disorganized thinking/speech and bizarre or unusual behavior
- Difficulty managing personal hygiene
Can Bipolar Turn Into Schizophrenia?
Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are extremely distinctive mental health conditions. While bipolar disorder cannot develop into schizophrenia, its comorbidity is evidenced in a mental condition like schizoaffective, where symptoms of both the mental conditions described above are active, putting rest to the debate of schizophrenia vs bipolar debate.
Read More: Bipolar Disorder – Symptoms, Causes, Types and Treatment
But Can You Have Bipolar and Schizophrenia Together?
The answer to the question of “Can you have bipolar and schizophrenia together?” and not as schizoaffective is that it isn’t uncommon to have symptoms of both schizophrenia and bipolar, whose overlapping can make it difficult to pinpoint them as different conditions or as symptoms of one condition called the schizoaffective disorder. Researchers suggest this does put a dent in the debate of bipolar vs schizophrenia as some agree that they are different conditions affecting an individual while others agree that they are the symptoms of a single condition called schizoaffective disorder.
Bipolar vs Schizophrenia: A Table Of Comparison
| Condition | Bipolar | Schizophrenia |
| Symptoms | Extreme form of episodes that stem from mania or depression | Extreme psychosis and disordered speech |
| Onset | Between the ages of 15 and 19. | Mid to late 20s, though it can start later, up to the mid-30s. |
| Treatment | Psychotherapies and medication | Psychotherapies and medication |
| Type | Mood disorder | Chronic brain disorder |
Conclusion
This should put an end to the debate of bipolar and schizophrenia. Both are serious illnesses and even their derived schizoaffective is also a serious one. For that, treatments like psychotherapy and medication are paramount. In that regard, Solid Foundation Psychiatry can help as it is extremely adept in treating the mental conditions described above or things like depression or ADHD.