Author: James Anderson

Residential Treatment for Schizophrenia & Psychosis

If the disorder is left untreated, day-to-day functioning can be affected. Unaddressed schizoaffective disorder can lead to difficulties with employment, school, relationships. It can also lead to substance abuse, isolation, homelessness, and even suicidal thoughts. If the doctor finds no physical cause, they may refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Antipsychotic medications should help resolve symptoms quickly, sometimes as quickly as 3-5 days. Long term use of older antipsychotic drugs have been known to cause tardive dyskinesia, a serious and sometimes irreversible disorder of body movement. After symptoms of psychosis improve, mood symptoms may be treated with antidepressants, lithium, anticonvulsants, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Sometimes a neuroleptic is combined with lithium or an antidepressant and then gradually withdrawn, to be restored if necessary. The few studies on drug treatment of this disorder suggest that antipsychotic drugs are most effective. The greater effectiveness of these new drugs may be partly due to their activity at receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is not influenced as strongly by standard antipsychotic drugs.

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“Those insights will inform development of new, targeted medications, based on each patient’s clinical and cognitive symptoms,” says Margolis. People with schizoaffective disorder typically have symptoms that overlap with symptoms of schizophrenia, depression, and/or mania. Experts don’t yet know what causes schizoaffective disorder. Because the condition runs in some families, a genetic predisposition may be responsible. Another possible cause is an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, or serotonin. Abnormalities or changes in a person’s brain structure may also cause the condition.

The lynchpin of treatment, antipsychotic medicines, are at least partially helpful in 70% of patients, he notes. Of the remaining 30%, half will respond to the atypical antipsychotic clozapine, but the other half do not improve with any medicine. Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health condition with symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood disorder. People with schizoaffective disorder may experience depression, mania and psychosis. Schizoaffective disorder treatment often includes therapy and medications.

  1. One study looked at the life expectancy of people with serious mental illnesses like schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
  2. Of the remaining 30%, half will respond to the atypical antipsychotic clozapine, but the other half do not improve with any medicine.
  3. All Skyland Trail clients with psychosis participate in cognitive training.

Related Conditions

Seek immediate help if you experience this by contacting a healthcare provider or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988 (U.S.). Someone is available to talk with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency services number.

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People are most often diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder during young adulthood, typically between the ages of 25 and 35, although the condition can affect anyone at any age. Schizoaffective disorder occurs more frequently in women than in men. And the condition is rare—it affects about 0.3% of Americans, which is 3 in every 1,000 people. And there are various disorders that fall under the schizophrenia spectrum such as schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder. Schizophreniform disorder is identical to schizophrenia but has a shorter symptom duration at more than a month to less than six months.

The symptoms of schizoaffective disorder overlap with other mental health conditions. People with schizoaffective disorder generally respond best to medicines along with talk therapy and life skills training. Treatment varies, depending on the type and severity of symptoms and whether the disorder is the depressive or bipolar type.

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Mood disorders change your feelings, energy levels and behaviors. Patients with schizoaffective disorder should also receive psychotherapy services in conjunction with medication. Doctors or therapists may recommend a mix of individual therapy, family therapy, and group therapy. Therapy should help patients learn how to manage their activities of daily living, improve their cognitive functioning, and/or ignore hallucinations or delusions.

One reason for this discrepancy is the difficulty in initiating clozapine, and concerns about side effects. Patients on clozapine are required to be on a registry and receive ongoing regular blood draws to monitor their white blood cell counts which can become dangerously low and lead to life-threatening infections. For these reasons, many psychiatrists are reluctant to initiate treatment with clozapine or to follow patients who are already on clozapine. This has created a need in the community for a clinic that specializes in its use. When possible, psychotherapy should include social skills and job training to help patients find ways to stay actively involved in the community. This may prevent them from experiencing social isolation and unemployment, lowering their risk of being readmitted to the hospital for care.

You may inherit a tendency to get features linked to schizoaffective disorder from your parents. Peer support and connection can also be valuable to people with the disorder and their families. Cognitive training groups meet weekly in our computer lab and are supervised by a counselor.