Schizoaffective Disorder

Symptoms of Mania and Depression

Symptoms of Mania

In general, the symptoms of mania involve an excess in behavioral activity, mood states (in particular, irritability or positive feelings), and self-esteem and confidence.

Euphoric or Expansive Mood. The patient's mood is abnormally elevated, such as extremely happy or excited (euphoria). The person may tend to talk more and with greater enthusiasm or emphasis on certain topics (expansiveness).

Irritability. The patient is easily angered or persistently irritable, especially when others seem to interfere with his or her plans or goals, however unrealistic they may be.

Inflated Self-Esteem or Grandiosity. The patient is extremely self-confident and may be unrealistic about his or her abilities (grandiosity). For example, the patient may believe he or she is a brilliant artist or inventor, a wealthy person, a shrewd businessperson, or a healer when he or she has no special competence in these areas.

Decreased Need for Sleep. Only a few hours of sleep are needed each night (such as less than four hours) for the patient to feel rested.

Talkativeness. The patient talks excessively and may be difficult to interrupt. The patient may jump quickly from one topic to another (called flight of ideas), making it hard for others to understand.

Racing Thoughts. Thoughts come so rapidly that the patient finds it hard to keep up with them or express them.

Distractibility. The patient's attention is easily drawn to irrelevant stimuli, such as the sound of a car honking outside on the street.

Increased Goal-Directed Activity. A great deal of time is spent pursuing specific goals, at work, school, or sexually.

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Excessive Involvement in Pleasurable Activities with High Potential for Negative Consequences. Common problem areas include spending sprees, sexual indiscretions, increased substance abuse, or making foolish business investments.

Symptoms of Depression

Depressive symptoms reflect the opposite end of the continuum of mood from manic symptoms, with a low mood and behavioral inactivity as the major features.

Depressed Mood. Mood is low most of the time, according to the patient or significant others.

Diminished Interest or Pleasure. The patient has few interests and gets little pleasure from anything, including activities previously found enjoyable.

Change in Appetite and/or Weight. Loss of appetite (and weight) when not dieting, or increased appetite (and weight gain) are evident.

Change in Sleep Pattern. The patient may have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. Alternatively, the patient may sleep excessively (such as over twelve hours per night), spending much of the day in bed.

Change in Activity Level. Decreased activity level is reflected by slowness and lethargy, both in terms of the patient's behavior and thought processes. Alternatively, the patient may feel agitated, "on edge," and restless.

Fatigue or Loss of Energy. The patient experiences fatigue throughout the day or there is a chronic feeling of loss of energy.

Feelings of Worthlessness, Hopelessness, Helplessness. Patients may feel they are worthless as people, that there is no hope for improving their lives, or that they are helpless to improve their unhappy situation.

Inappropriate Guilt. Feelings of guilt may be present about events that the patient did not even do, such as a catastrophe, a crime, or an illness.

Recurrent Thoughts about Death. The patient thinks about death a great deal and may contemplate (or even attempt) suicide.

Decreased Concentration or Ability to Make Decisions. Significant decreases in the ability to concentrate make it difficult for the patient to pay attention to others or complete rudimentary tasks. The patient may be quite indecisive about even minor things.

Other Symptoms

Patients with schizoaffective disorder are prone to alcohol or drug abuse. Patients may use alcohol and drugs excessively either because of their disturbing symptoms, to experience pleasure, or when socializing with others.

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