Why are the symptoms sometimes confused with schizophrenia:
The symptoms of bipolar disorder can be very similar to those of schizophrenia. This also has a very broad spectrum of symptoms that can be divided into positive and negative symptoms. The former includes hallucinations, a loss of reality and delusions and is therefore not unlike a pronounced manic phase.
The negative symptoms are similar to depression caused by listlessness, sleep disorders and social withdrawal. Another similarity is the sequence of the different episodes. For example, as in bipolar disorder, the negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia can alternate, each taking on a different degree of severity.
A clear distinction is not always easy, even for specialists. For example, it is assumed that bipolar disorder is clearly under-diagnosed, since mania is often diagnosed as a schizophrenic episode. Schizophrenia also plays a very important role in everyday medical life. For more information about this clinical picture, we recommend that you read the following:
- Symptoms of schizophrenia
- Is schizophrenia curable?
All articles in this series:
