Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia share similarities in genetic causative factors, symptoms, and treatments. Both often develop in late adolescence or early adulthood and can be controlled with medication. Family history of one disorder increases the risk of developing the other.
Although bipolar and schizophrenia are still, for the most part, considered to be two distinct psychiatric illnesses, they are related in many ways. Both diseases usually develop in late adolescence or early adulthood. Genetic causative factors were found to be very similar in the two brain diseases; both disorders often run in the same families. Some people are diagnosed with symptoms of both diseases. Schizophrenia and bipolar or manic-depressive disorder also share common symptoms and treatments.
Some medications prescribed for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia reduce levels of protein kinase C (PKC) in the brain. High levels of this brain protein are thought to increase the severity of symptoms related to both diseases such as hearing or seeing things that aren’t there, having racing thoughts, and experiencing grandiose or false beliefs about one’s personal power. In what is called the dysphoric mood in schizophrenia, schizophrenics often experience severe irritability, anxiety, and depression similar to what bipolar, or manic-depressive, tends to have in their depressive periods. Left untreated, both bipolar and schizophrenics are extremely likely to abuse drugs or alcohol as a way to “self-medicate.”
The main difference between schizophrenia symptoms and bipolar disorder is mood. Bipolar illness is considered a mood disorder characterized by two extreme moods: manic optimism and depressive despair. Distinct moods are so severe that they interfere with the bipolar’s daily life; a mood stabilizer such as lithium is often prescribed. Schizophrenics do not have two distinct periods of moods, but rather continually experience different clusters of symptoms known as negative and positive; these can be controlled with antipsychotic drugs such as Haldol. Negative symptoms are the hardest to treat with medication; they show as underfunctioning, such as a lack of emotion, speech, or expression, while positive schizophrenic symptoms are overfunctioning, such as hearing voices or believing they possess superhuman powers.
It is possible for a person to have both diseases or at least overlapping symptoms. A schizoaffective diagnosis refers to a person with schizophrenia and a mood disorder such as bipolar or major depression. Major depressive disorder differs from bipolar in that it lacks the manic phase. Bipolar and schizophrenia are considered particularly related. Studies have shown that having schizophrenia makes a person more susceptible to developing bipolar disorder.
Having family members with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder increases the risk of developing one or both illnesses. A family with a history of one disease is likely to have the other disorder as well. Bipolar and schizophrenia have genetic components that are linked to both brain disorders.
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