Hello,

My sister has been diagnosed with schzoaffected disorder. The symtoms came about after her son survived a house fire, and was fine after. However, she recently started saying bizarre things, and has paranioa etc. At first the doctor thought it was post traumatic stress disorder now they see it as schzoaffected disorder, we have no history of this in our family. I personally think she has the post stress disorder, but how do I know for sure. As her symptoms resemble both.

A diagnosis in psychiatry is something that is not always easy to make. After at least a couple of visits a pretty good diagnosis can be made, and even then it is still a working diagnosis (something that guides treatment although may still require further study).

Differentiating bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder can be difficult. My approach is hope for the best first, and use that as your guide. That would be to make the diagnosis of Bipolar disorder first, as it has the best prognosis (outcome). Many patients with mood disorders have psychotic or paranoid symptoms. If the person can still think clearly, recovers from an episode so they can interact with others in a meaningful way (working, socializing), and don't still have psychotic symptoms, they do not have schizo-affective disorder. Many experts hate the term schizoafective disorder because it is neither here nor there and is probably best reserved for patients that are more like people with schizophrenia in terms of a more chronic and devastating illness. Not that bipolar disorder is easy, although there is more potential for recovery.

I hope this helps and that they take time and effort to figure out what your sister has and what is the best treatment. Also, she is a person first and a diagnosis second. Thanks and I hope this helps.