Doctor Adam Howard
Region: US
Wednesday 22 July 2026 12:44:06 GMT
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Aaron :
My bipolar I with psychotic features recently changed to schizoaffective bipolar type. My psychiatrist changed it cause I was having psychosis outside of my mood episodes. From my understanding the reason my diagnosis changed is because I had psychosis outside of mood episodes for over 2 weeks. So for schizoaffective you don’t need the 6 months of psychosis to be diagnosed
2026-07-28 14:27:51
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Stacie :
Thank you for educating on the differences.
2026-07-29 19:46:14
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MissBubbles :
I have schizo effective disorder
2026-07-28 09:03:16
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Sunsnsage :
I have bipolar 1 w psychosis. I went to nursing school and became an icu nurse after my first psychosis at 20. Unfortunately I did so well they took the diagnosis away and I had another psychotic break eight years later. I’m doing okay now I just haven’t gotten back to work yet. I’m weaning Ativan from catatonia during the last psychosis so some of it could be that but I can definitely attest to cognitively being very different, I’m afraid of not bouncing back. I can mother though! I have two little ones.
2026-07-22 13:01:34
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22LaRioux :
can you further define schizoaffective disorder bipolar type? how many types of schizoaffective disorder are there? what is the outcome of this diagnosis? thanks for the videos. very informative!
2026-07-25 20:34:00
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Yvonnethedancer :
Hi Dr. Howard,Thank you for taking the time to educate others. I wanted to share our family's story. My ex-husband is a two-time Purple Heart veteran who served six combat tours in Iraq & Afghanistan. He returned home with severe PTSD and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Our home eventually became a place of violence, and I ultimately divorced him, but by then the damage to our family had already been done. Our family psychiatrist believes those years of trauma were the greatest trigger for what unfolded next. Our oldest son was diagnosed with autism at age 8 in 1998, when it was still commonly referred to as Asperger's syndrome. He was brilliant—a gifted young man who graduated from college with two degrees in English and Film Studies, along with a Film Director Certification. He was only 25 years old and had accepted a position with Warner Bros. Studios. Shortly after our divorce and his college graduation, he experienced a severe psychotic break. While in Hollywood preparing to begin his new job, he became lost and disoriented. His college friends called to tell us something was terribly wrong. We drove 19 hours straight to Los Angeles to find him. What followed were six heartbreaking years of jail cells, emergency rooms, courtrooms, psychiatric hospitals, and one terrifying brush with death from sepsis before we were finally able to stabilize him. I fought relentlessly to advocate for him every step of the way. He tried countless medications, but haloperidol ultimately became the one that gave him his life back. Today he is 36 years old. He attends therapy twice a month and is thriving within the boundaries of his illness. He doesn't work, but he finds purpose through volunteer work. Travel is a significant trigger, so we intentionally keep his world small, predictable, and peaceful. We grieved the future we once imagined for him, but today we celebrate the remarkable man he is and everything he has overcome. He is, without question, one of the strongest people I know. While we were navigating his illness, both of my daughters were struggling with PTSD. I arranged counseling and support for them, but our youngest daughter's journey became especially
2026-07-24 00:43:13
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Gabriela Nakia C. M :
I have bi polar 1 w schizo affective disorder. Abilify has been a game changer. It saved my life.
2026-07-22 21:09:17
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b..rose8 :
My now 18 yr old son has diagnosis of Bipolar I with psychotic features. Started at 15 with mental health issues from cannabis induced psychosis. A few episodes of that over a few years and given antidepressant for depression led to mania and Bipolar diagnosis. Recently had first psychotic episode without cannabis use, so he was just experiencing a severe depression and started to have delusional thoughts and went into mania and/or excited Catatonia. He’s back in a depression and has been referred for TMS. That’s our brief story, although it’s longer and more complex. Thanks for putting awareness out there
2026-07-22 14:40:55
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thatgirlyouusedtoknow0 :
Thank you for this! I feel a bit confused about schizophrenia and shizoaffective. Does the patient go untreated for 6 months before they get a schizophrenia diagnosis? Also with schizoaffective- do they moods need to happen with or without a mood change, then that confuses me about teasing out whether it’s bipolar with psychotic features.
2026-07-24 03:09:26
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Judith Pineda :
My adult daughter was diagnosed with schizoeffective but she says she has anxiety, PTSD and depression. I think she has difficulty finding medications that work because she won’t actually say what she goes through. It’s very difficult because she has hallucinations, voices, delusions and paranoia along with the mania and depression. It’s frustrating trying to help her.
2026-07-25 22:04:38
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Rach the Great :
This is phenomenal education! I'm a nurse case manager primarily for chronic disease. A few years ago, I had maybe 5-10% of my caseload that had one of these dx. Now it's much closer to 40-60%. I had a patient recently who had a dx of "psychosis with major depressive features". I asked if there was a dx of schizophrenia and there was not. So, if I'm understanding in general, this person likely had a period of psychosis (they did) in the presence of a major depressive episode, but that episode(s) lasted < 6 months or was caught early and med stabilized with an inpatient stay.
2026-07-22 20:46:47
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shrinkologist_phd :
So I'm both a psychologist and I'm a mom to a 20 year old son who has bipolar disorder with psychotic features. when my son had his first manic/psychotic episode at age 17, doctors threw around several different diagnoses. He had been using weed heavily at the time, so it was impossible to know at the time whether it was cannabis-induced psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or something else. so I was very cautious about accepting a diagnosis after just that one episode. One doctor told me I was in denial, which could not have been further from the truth. We simply did not yet have enough data to cement a diagnosis: one episode confounded by heavy cannabis use. Of course he was medicated, but like a lot of people, he went off his meds. He resumed cannabis use and had another episode. Got him stabilized again, he quits weed for good (we test him), and 6 months later he had his third manic episode with psychotic features in the absence of cannabis. That was when I finally accepted that he has bipolar I with psychotic features. My point is that you need data to make a diagnosis like that. In practice with my own patients, I of course give a preliminary diagnosis, but with the caution that we need TIME and DATA to be really confident with the diagnosis.
2026-07-24 01:22:34
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Zara 🍉✌️ :
So glad I found this page
2026-07-23 23:21:40
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Megan :
I love your explanations
2026-07-22 18:24:08
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Amber :
My son is schizophrenic. He was bad for over a year. He was an adult and it took that whole time to get him actual help. He almost unalived a girl with a machete. When my daughter brought her baby home I finally was like look either you agree to help or you have to go somewhere else. I can’t have you around the baby. He was bad. Fighting thing in the freezer. Demons. Chasing the cat with a hammer. No one would help us. He agreed. He’s in a facility now and will be there probably for life. It absolutely guts me. I had to choose my grand baby and his sisters safety. This disorder robbed me of my son. He’s not “him” anymore. It’s like someone else took over his body. There are blips where he’s him. He’s not in psychosis now but he’s simply not the same person.
2026-07-22 20:40:43
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Erica Hair :
I have bipolar 1 with psychotic features 😅
2026-07-27 06:52:51
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Aquariusloonatic 🇮🇪 🇺🇸 :
Raise your hand if you know insurance will not pay for most meds if you use schizoaffective d/o dx. So frustrating
2026-07-22 18:28:57
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Dr. Lemongello :
You’re wonderful
2026-07-26 21:49:44
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Jumbosparkles :
And how do you determine that it is not synesthesia????????? And autism..
2026-07-26 12:52:35
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Dani Dodge :
I had a single psychotic episode and got a bipolar 1 diagnosis. My care team doesn’t think I have it….now 5 years later. Is there a way to legitimize that? Or test it further?
2026-07-25 14:15:20
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The Witches of Weho! :
Very well explained.👏👏
2026-07-22 15:15:26
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robinjohnson312 :
Dr. Howard. thank you for your videos. I'm a mother with a 31 year old son, African-Am, and he is diagnosed with Bipolar with Schizo-effective disorder. He's taking Lithium, Haldol and Chlorpromazine. He is not functioning as an adult. He is not social and unmotivated to work or get a job. When he was younger, he was ADHD and took meds but, by 21 yrs. old, he presented with Bipolar disorder. At that time, he was smoking marijuana alot. It's been a journey with meds,his behavior and finding help for him. He sees a mental health nurse practioner but he needs a therapist. He needs a comprehensive evaluation to figure out the best meds for him but he refuses to go to a mental health hospital. I had to get Guardianship but I can't force him to go into a facility unless he is homicidal or suicidal. I've tried to get him SSI but he was denied so I'm in the process of appealing. My questions to you. He's been on Lithium 11 years. Should he be on this medicine this long? He use to take Olanzapine butcit made him gain weight. Now he takes Chlorpromazine and its making him gain weight. He's 5'4" and now weigh 184. He started taking this med last August after a manic episode. The Haldol was added in November. Should he be taking this combination of meds? I can say that the Haldol has helped his cognition because sometimes I feel like he's lost basic knowledge like how to multiply or reading comprehension.
2026-07-22 20:44:46
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Murphy & Maggie’s world :
These are my favorite patients to follow. I love the complexity of it. Thank you for this video!
2026-07-23 11:38:55
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user7395239298466 :
I feel like a lot of people are diagnosed with schizoaffective depressive type because of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia that mimic depression
2026-07-23 11:52:32
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Misterical :
thank you for your information. I have bipolar 1 and only was diagnosed in my late 30s. once I started medication, everything changed. today I'm mostly stable and able to live a full life. I'm grateful for the meds and my support system.
2026-07-25 18:09:22
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