MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Schizoaffective Disorder Treatment in San Diego
Solara Mental Health’s Behavioral Health and Psychiatric Center offers the best schizoaffective disorder treatment in San Diego. Our program is comprehensive, current, and designed to address the nuanced nature of this complex illness.
We use in-depth tests and evaluations to learn about each client’s specific experiences with schizoaffective disorder. We also meet with family, friends, caretakers, and outpatient care providers to gain a full picture of each client’s symptoms and struggles. With these evaluations, our expert clinicians create treatment plans that are thorough and personalized.
We utilize a combination of individual psychotherapy, group therapy, holistic therapies, and psychotropic treatment. This allows clients to gain the understanding and the skills necessary to increase behavioral and emotional function, develop self-confidence and self-sufficiency and lead a fulfilling, stable and healthy life.
Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizoaffective disorder is a complex serious mental illness that shares features of both schizophrenia and mood disorders. It is often a misdiagnosed and mistreated medical condition due to its complications.
According to the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), people diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder may experience persistent psychotic symptoms for at least a two-week period without mood-stabilizing issues.
To more easily differentiate the psychotic disorders, think of schizoaffective disorder as having both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A person with schizoaffective disorder will have symptoms of schizophrenia along with depressed or manic episodes that come with mood disorder symptoms.
Someone with bipolar disorder may experience manic episodes of psychosis and mood fluctuation. However, if psychosis and mood episodes always occur together, it’s a sign of a mood disorder with psychotic features.
Signs and Symptoms
Schizoaffective Disorder symptoms include:
- Delusional thinking
- Hallucinations, often visual and auditory
- Paranoia
- Disordered thought and/or behavior
- Communication problems
- Disruptive moods, including mania and depression
- Lack of social or occupational function
These symptoms are often deeply distressing for those experiencing them. In particular, the psychotic disconnect innate to this disorder can lead to a fractured sense of reality, which in turn hinders the ability to fully relate to yourself, others, and the world.
Similarly, intense moods such as mania and major depressive episodes can disrupt day-to-day functioning. This, in turn, can be so upsetting that it causes self-destructive behavior and more intense psychological suffering.
Combined, these symptoms can prevent healthy social and emotional functioning, hinder the ability to function normally in everyday life and cause profound feelings of isolation and helplessness.
Schizoaffective Disorder Treatment at Solara
The staff at our mental health and psychiatric treatment center understands how difficult and painful it can be for people with schizoaffective disorder to manage these challenging and complex symptoms. As such, our program has been specifically designed to address the wide range of schizoaffective symptoms and help those with this disorder as they begin the recovery process.
Our small program size allows us to give maximum attention and support to each client, ensuring that clients feel safe and secure and that all their needs are met. Our clinicians will help clients heal their fractured sense of reality and better understand their emotions and thoughts, giving them the foundation they need to learn practical skills for managing symptoms and maintaining progress. Clients also have the opportunity to work with peers who share similar experiences, building a support network that is non-judgmental and understanding.
Through the comprehensive treatment provided at Solara, those with schizoaffective disorder can learn to manage their symptoms, develop self-confidence and autonomy, and come to an understanding of their true self.
While our clients make considerable and rapid improvements, schizoaffective disorder is often a long-term condition. Through years of experience, our mental health treatment center has learned how to provide the entire spectrum of care for our clients. From inpatient to outpatient, from transitional living to a long-term aftercare plan, our program has been designed to free our clients from the clutches of schizoaffective disorder.
Contact us now to start the healing process.
What triggers schizoaffective disorder?
Schizoaffective disorder is caused by chemical abnormalities in the brain including serotonin and dopamine. Researchers believe that a combination of genetics, environmental triggers, and issues with neurotransmission cause schizoaffective disorder. No single factor is typically responsible.
Can you recover from schizoaffective disorder?
There is no cure for schizoaffective disorder, however, one can better control their symptoms with sustained treatment. Minimizing symptoms is key in successfully living a more ordinary life.
What is the best treatment for schizoaffective disorder?
The most effective treatment typically involves a combination of:
- Medications — such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers
- Psychotherapy — to educate the patient on how the condition is unique to them and how they can manage it
- Life skills practice — to help the patient function favorably on their own
How is schizoaffective disorder different from schizophrenia?
The main difference between the two psychotic disorders is that schizoaffective disorder also experiences bipolar disorder or depressive disorder symptoms. These mood disorder symptoms typically occur over half of the duration of the schizoaffective disorder.
Does schizoaffective disorder affect memory?
Schizoaffective disorder can cause a person to have false beliefs and false sensory perceptions. Someone with schizoaffective disorder might hear voices, see things, or feel sensations that are not real. This can lead to issues remembering what may or may not have happened in a given situation.
Is someone with schizoaffective disorder dangerous?
Schizoaffective disorder does not make a person dangerous. Hallucinations and delusions may give a person with schizoaffective disorder false perceptions of potentially violent circumstances, but that doesn’t mean they will react with violence. Those situations typically just result in paranoia.
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