Schizophrenia Versus Schizoaffective Disorder

[Prot]

http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/17883

[Naominjw]

"wastebasket diagnosis". I am surprised they used this term for schizoaffective. The fact that "there is no FDA-approved treatment for schizoaffective" explains why someone I know with an HMO had such a hard time getting medication approved. They said that it was "not on the list." The doctor had to write them. It seemed ridiculous.

Another point I found interesting was stating so bluntly that the medications given are NOT to treat the illness. It is only to manage symptoms. Hmmm... That is thought-provoking. We think of the antipsychotics as treating the "neurochemical imbalance" but what they are saying is it manages symptoms and that's why they usually have to add on other meds.

I am glad that treating underlying biological (non-mental) issues alleviated my daughter's schizoaffective symptoms--I guess that is what "biomedical treatment approach" attempts to do-- treat actual illness as opposed to just managing symptoms. Sometimes the best approach we can manage is a combination. Treat what we can.