Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Schizoaffective Disorder Lies Between

A recent study examining the link between schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder as well as schizophrenia, has come out with some interesting results. According to the findings it seems that schizoaffective disorder has a genetic link to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Much of the literature looking at schizoaffective disorder has speculated on whether the disorder is a subtype of either of the two disorders, or something completely seperate from the two.

Schizoaffective disorder has an increased risk (at 2.76 fold) of developing if the individual has a first degree relative with had some form of mental illness. They also found that "there was an additional risk of schizoaffective disorder if the first-degree relative had schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or schizoaffective disorder, at 2.57, 3.23, and 1.92, respectively, compared with those whose first-degree relative had other types of psychiatric disorders" (PsychiatrySource.com). There was not a statistically significant difference in the risk of developing schizoaffective disorder between those who had immediate relatives with schizophrenia or those with bipolar disorder.

The findings of this study exemplified that schizoaffective disorder was neither a subgroup of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, rather it showed that it lies between the two disorders. It is an "itermediate disorder" and shares a genetic similarity to both disorders. The researchers wanted to emphasize that schizoaffective disorder did not seem to be a "distinct condition".

Original Source: Schizoaffective disorder 'familial link to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder'. PsychiatrySource.com. August 12, 2005.

This study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:841-848.