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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Schizoaffective
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Schizoaffective
by Maria, May 10, 2000 12:00AM
Thank you for answering my questions for the 8th. I do have two more that I hope to make short.
I have had psychotic features during depression, but I have had them when I have not been depressed or manic. They don't necessarily last two weeks, but I take a small dose of Risperdal and my doctor increased when I started having those thoughts again. I have to take Risperdal all of the time or I start having paranoid thoughts. My doctor does not always tell me straight....he told me I was too high functioning to be schizoaffective....you told me one could be high functioning. I need to know what is going on with me. Does it sound like schizoaffective to you?
One last one, please, does a poorer prognois in this case mean deterioration or that it can be worse due to psychotic features?
I appreciate your time. Thank you.
I have had psychotic features during depression, but I have had them when I have not been depressed or manic. They don't necessarily last two weeks, but I take a small dose of Risperdal and my doctor increased when I started having those thoughts again. I have to take Risperdal all of the time or I start having paranoid thoughts. My doctor does not always tell me straight....he told me I was too high functioning to be schizoaffective....you told me one could be high functioning. I need to know what is going on with me. Does it sound like schizoaffective to you?
One last one, please, does a poorer prognois in this case mean deterioration or that it can be worse due to psychotic features?
I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Doctor's Answer
by HFHS-M.D.-HG, May 13, 2000 12:00AM
Dear Maria,
Without a formal clinical evaluation, it is difficult to say whether a person has a mood disorder or a schizo affective disorder or a mood disorder with psychotic features. There are standard criteria for the diagnosis of each disorder and careful evaluation can help reach to a conclusion. Your doctor would be the best person to diagnose you. People with psychotic features in general tend to have a poor prognosis when compared to people with just mood component variations in their disorders but there are always exceptions.
Sincerely
HFHS-M.D.
Without a formal clinical evaluation, it is difficult to say whether a person has a mood disorder or a schizo affective disorder or a mood disorder with psychotic features. There are standard criteria for the diagnosis of each disorder and careful evaluation can help reach to a conclusion. Your doctor would be the best person to diagnose you. People with psychotic features in general tend to have a poor prognosis when compared to people with just mood component variations in their disorders but there are always exceptions.
Sincerely
HFHS-M.D.
