Schizoaffective disorder is one of the most confusing and controversial diagnostic categories in psychiatry. There is little agreement on what it actually is. Since there is no test or specific anatomical lesion for any "mental illness" we are stuck with the DSM IV and clinicians subjective interpretations of it when we or our loved ones are labeled. In most cases simply switching doctors will cause you or your loves ones to be given a different diagnosis. In the rest of the world is stuck with the ICD 10 classification. The ICD 10 classification is below

Here are the current guidelines for what schizoaffective disorder is in the DSM IV

1. An uninterrupted period of illness during which, at some time, there is either (1) a Major Depressive Episode, (2) a Manic Episode, or (3) a Mixed Episode concurrent with symptoms that meet (4) Criterion A for Schizophrenia.

   Note: The Major Depressive Episode must include depressed mood.
   

   (1) Criteria for Major Depressive Episode

   • Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-week period and represent a change from previous functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

     Note: Do not include symptoms that are clearly due to a general medical condition, or mood-incongruent delusions or hallucinations.
     

     1. depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). Note: In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.
     2. markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation made by others)
     3. significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. Note: In children, consider failure to make expected weight gains.
     4. insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
     5. psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down)
     6. fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
     7. feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional) nearly every day (not merely self-reproach or guilt about being sick)
     8. diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day (either by subjective account or as observed by others)
     9. recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide
   • The symptoms do not meet criteria for a Mixed Episode
   • The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
   • The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).
   • The symptoms are not better accounted for by Bereavement, i.e., after the loss of a loved one, the symptoms persist for longer than 2 months or are characterized by marked functional impairment, morbid preoccupation with worthlessness, suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms, or psychomotor retardation.

   (2) Criteria for Manic Episode

   • A distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 week (or any duration if hospitalization is necessary).
   • During the period of mood disturbance, three (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted (four if the mood is only irritable) and have been present to a significant degree:
     1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
     2. decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
     3. more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
     4. flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
     5. distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
     6. increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
     7. excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)
   • The symptoms do not meet criteria for a Mixed Episode
   • The mood disturbance is sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in occupational functioning or in usual social activities or relationships with others, or to necessitate hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others, or there are psychotic features.
   • The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

   (3) Criteria for Mixed Episode

   • The criteria are met both for a Manic Episode and for a Major Depressive Episode (except for duration) nearly every day during at least a 1-week period.
   • The mood disturbance is sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in occupational functioning or in usual social activities or relationships with others, or to necessitate hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others, or there are psychotic features.
   • The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

   (4) Criterion A of Schizophrenia

   • Two (or more) of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period (or less if successfully treated):
     • delusions
     • hallucinations
     • disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)
     • grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior
     • negative symptoms, i.e., affective flattening, alogia, or avolition
   • Only one symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person's behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing with each other.
2. During the same period of illness, there have been delusions or hallucinations for at least 2 weeks in the absence of prominent mood symptoms.
3. Symptoms that meet criteria for a mood episode are present for a substantial portion of the total duration of the active and residual periods of the illness.
4. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.

Specify type:

• Bipolar Type: if the disturbance includes a Manic or a Mixed Episode (or a Manic or a Mixed Episode and Major Depressive Episodes)
• Depressive Type: if the disturbance only includes Major Depressive Episodes

Associated Features

• Learning Problem
• Hypoactivity
• Psychotic
• Euphoric Mood
• Depressed Mood
• Somatic/Sexual Dysfunction
• Hyperactivity
• Guilt/Obsession
• Odd/Eccentric/Suspicious Personality
• Anxious/Fearful/Dependent Personality
• Dramatic/Erratic/Antisocial Personality

Differential Diagnosis

Psychotic Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition, a delirium, or a dementia; Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder; Substance-Induced Delirium; Delusional Disorder; Psychotic Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders

F25 Schizoaffective Disorder

These are episodic disorders in which both affective and schizophrenic symptoms are prominent within the same episode of illness, preferably simultaneously, but at least within a few days of each other. Their relationship to typical mood (affective) disorders and to schizophrenic disorders is uncertain. They are given a separate category because they are too common to be ignored. Other conditions in which affective symptoms are superimposed upon or form part of a pre-existing schizophrenic illness, or in which they coexist or alternate with other types of persistent delusional disorders, are classified under the appropriate category. Mood-incongruent delusions or hallucinations in affective disorders do not by themselves justify a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.

Patients who suffer from recurrent schizoaffective episodes, particularly those whose symptoms are of the manic rather than the depressive type, usually make a full recovery and only rarely develop a defect state.

Diagnostic Guidelines

A diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder should be made only when both definite schizophrenic and definite affective symptoms are prominent simultaneously, or within a few days of each other, within the same episode of illness, and when, as a consequence of this, the episode of illness does not meet criteria for either schizophrenia or a depressive or manic episode. The term should not be applied to patients who exhibit schizophrenic symptoms and affective symptoms only in different episodes of illness. It is common, for example, for a schizophrenic patient to present with depressive symptoms in the aftermath of a psychotic episode (see post-schizophrenic depression). Some patients have recurrent schizoaffective episodes, which may be of the manic or depressive type or a mixture of the two. Others have one or two schizoaffective episodes interspersed between typical episodes of mania or depression. In the former case, schizoaffective disorder is the appropriate diagnosis. In the latter, the occurrence of an occasional schizoaffective episode does not invalidate a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder or recurrent depressive disorder if the clinical picture is typical in other respects.

F25.0 Schizoaffective Disorder, Manic Type

A disorder in which schizophrenic and manic symptoms are both prominent in the same episode of illness. The abnormality of mood usually takes the form of elation, accompanied by increased self-esteem and grandiose ideas, but sometimes excitement or irritability are more obvious and accompanied by aggressive behaviour and persecutory ideas. In both cases there is increased energy, overactivity, impaired concentration, and a loss of normal social inhibition. Delusions of reference, grandeur, or persecution may be present, but other more typically schizophrenic symptoms are required to establish the diagnosis. People may insist, for example, that their thoughts are being broadcast or interfered with, or that alien forces are trying to control them, or they may report hearing voices of varied kinds or express bizarre delusional ideas that are not merely grandiose or persecutory. Careful questioning is often required to establish that an individual really is experiencing these morbid phenomena, and not merely joking or talking in metaphors. Schizoaffective disorders, manic type, are usually florid psychoses with an acute onset; although behaviour is often grossly disturbed, full recovery generally occurs within a few weeks.

Diagnostic Guidelines

There must be a prominent elevation of mood, or a less obvious elevation of mood combined with increased irritability or excitement. Within the same episode, at least one and preferably two typically schizophrenic symptoms (as specified for schizophrenia [F20], diagnostic guidelines (a) - (d)) should be clearly present.

This category should be used both for a single schizoaffective episode of the manic type and for a recurrent disorder in which the majority of episodes are schizoaffective, manic type.

Includes:
* schizoaffective psychosis, manic type
* schizophreniform psychosis, manic type

F25.1 Schizoaffective Disorder, Depressive Type

A disorder in which schizophrenic and depressive symptoms are both prominent in the same episode of illness. Depression of mood is usually accompanied by several characteristic depressive symptoms or behavioural abnormalities such as retardation, insomnia, loss of energy, appetite or weight, reduction of normal interests, impairment of concentration, guilt, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. At the same time, or within the same episode, other more typically schizophrenic symptoms are present; patients may insist, for example, that their thoughts are being broadcast or interfered with, or that alien forces are trying to control them. They may be convinced that they are being spied upon or plotted against and this is not justified by their own behaviour. Voices may be heard that are not merely disparaging or condemnatory but that talk of killing the patient or discuss this behaviour between themselves. Schizoaffective episodes of the depressive type are usually less florid and alarming than schizoaffective episodes of the manic type, but they tend to last longer and the prognosis is less favourable. Although the majority of patients recover completely, some eventually develop a schizophrenic defect.
 

Diagnostic Guidelines

There must be prominent depression, accompanied by at least two characteristic depressive symptoms or associated behavioural abnormalities as listed for depressive episode; within the same episode, at least one and preferably two typically schizophrenic symptoms (as specified for schizophrenia), diagnostic guidelines (a)-(d) should be clearly present.

This category should be used both for a single schizoaffective episode, depressive type, and for a recurrent disorder in which the majority of episodes are schizoaffective, depressive type.

Includes:
* schizoaffective psychosis, depressive type
* schizophreniform psychosis, depressive type