An Overview of Schizoaffective Disorder

摘要

Schizoaffective disorder, a perplexing and chronic mental-health condition, is a hybrid of two mental illnesses in that it incorporates features of schizophrenia (i.e., hallucinations or delusions) and mood disorders (i.e., mania and/or depression). Symptoms may occur simultaneously or at different times. Cycles of severe symptoms are often followed by periods of improvement or high energy. This mental condition causes both a loss of contact with reality and mood problems.1 It is not known whether schizoaffective disorder is related mainly to schizophrenia or to mood disorder. Although schizoaffective disorder can be managed, it cannot be cured, and most patients will experience relapses.1