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Q: Is scizoaffective a real disease? I was recently diagnosed with
the disease.
Dear Jamie
Yes. It's thought by some to be part of the bipolar spectrum. Here's
a technical article
on that subject if you want, but the simple version basically says "it's
not clear whether schizoaffective disorder is really different than bipolar
disorder; the treatment is usually a mix of the two treatments" (antipsychotics
and mood stabilizers). As you might be able to gather from the article (by
a Harvard-associated researcher), some of us think that doctors lean too far in
the direction of diagnosing schizophrenia and thus end up treating with
antipsychotics emphasized too much over the mood stabilizers.
Dr. Phelps
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