Any experience with schizoaffective disorder?

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We've been approached about siblings where both birth parents have schizoaffective disorder (having both schizophrenia and bipolar traits). Our SW has advised us to do some research over the weekend and we have a call Monday morning with her to see if we want to go further and speak with the little ones SW.

I've been on the Mind and NHS websites and read about the condition and there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer on whether it is an inherited condition, just that if that parents have it then there is a greater chance the child will but not sure to what degree.

My DH has been completely put off by what he had read online while I am on the fence. Has anyone else adopted little ones coming from a schizoaffective disorder background or have any experience with it that could give me a real-life account of what it's like please?

You need more information about the parents backgrounds, and grandparents, try to get as much as possible if you are considering these children, as you need to have a good understanding of the parents upbringing, ages of any diagnosis etc. It’s very hard sometimes what’s hereditary and what’s trauma, I found with all of the information given to us about our little one, that much of the mental disabilities- difficulty’s ( some diagnosed, some not) were partly due to continued neglect and abuse passed down from one generation to another, in other words their normal, little education being abused living an unstable life, was all any of the family had ever k own. I’m not great at putting everything down in writing, I know someone more eloquent than me will be along soon to explain better. We had many worries and many mental health problems were mentioned, but after reading everything we had, which to be fair was TONS both BP had been in and out of care, we felt we could offer our LO what she needed, we are 3 years in and no problems, but honestly I would be lying if I said I expect it to stay that way, you just don’t know, good luck with whatever you decide, can’t emphasis enough get as much information as possible keep asking.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So far all we know is that the BM was in and out of care as a child and also homeless for a while and BF grew up with domestic violence so they both had a lot of childhood trauma themselves. Siblings have been removed due to neglect and abuse but so far are meeting their development milestones. We haven't had the CPR yet as our SW wanted us to do some research first and she's going to send it over Monday ahead of the call.

Same as our little ones BP, if it’s any reassurance any mention of mental health issues and my husband was very put off, we had many discussions as this worried him probably more than anything else. We had an argument at one point over it, we’re I ended up pointing out all of his family members that had definitely undiagnosed mental health issues, this seemed to help as we sat down and really discussed it, and both agreed that on both sides of our families, certainly down the generations there were mental health issues, I had totally forgotten that my grandmother had received elective shock treatment due to a breakdown in the 60s. Now if you were reading that in LOs profile it would I’m sure worry you both. My Nan recovered and was an amazing woman. I think seeing everything written down can feel overwhelming

Do you know how old the children were when removed? It’s not an area I know a huge amount about but there’s some debate about whether “inherited@ mental health issues are generic in nature or whether children basically are brought up in chaos and adapt to parental ways of being. I’ve found the Royal Psychiatric Society useful for information on these kinds of conditions, may be worth a look.

Fantastic posts @user1497873278. I know I am a mere adoptee and as such have been warned off about offering opinions or advice about this sort of thing, but just wanted to say it all the same, fantastic posts.

Good luck with the decisions, OP!

Thank you sassygromit, I am also an adoptee, so have opinions from both sides. Please keep posting, I often find that I feel out of place on here, purely due to my inability when writing to express what I want to say on a certain level. I won’t be publishing books anytime soon 😁 my posts can be ignored totally by some on here, but I don’t care, I was adopted as a baby, have built up my own very successful business, fostered, and then adopted a LO. I have read your posts many times and value your views, there will always be people that think they are better than everyone one else, these boards are no exception.

Thank you all. The children are 3 and 4 and were removed a year ago due to neglect. I think we need to receive the CPR and talk with the children's SW so we can make an informed decision. My DH's main concern is one of his friends suffered from schizophrenia and committed suicide so in our matching form it was one that we ticked no to.

I have it OP. I am guessing it varies in severity like schizophrenia does. In terms of genetics research schizophrenia and bipolar. My understanding is although there is a genetic association its not very strong. Schizophrenia is genetically associated with autism too. I basically get on with my life but I tend to relapse with big stresses. My relapses last about a month with low mood or mixed high and low mood and psychotic features.

@user1497873278 thank you so much I shall look out for your username in future!

I am an prospective adopter waiting on suitable match. Having worked in mental health for over 10years in my experience and opinion it isn't necessarily hereditary. Many other factors contributing. I will consider children with birth parents with mental health issues due to my experience of working with adults with mh issues whose children do not have them. It's just worth considering that it's not necessarily genetic .

The truth is as an adoptive parent you will have a higher risk of your child developing a mental health disorder, no matter if their birth parents have been diagnosed or not. Ill mental health plays a major role in why children are removed from birth families and many mental health disorders have a genetic component. Plus, children who have suffered maltreatment have an increased risk for developing mental health problems (see "Childhood Adversity: The Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Mental Health" on futurelearn.com. It's very good and for free).

That sounds dire, but the thing is, any mental health disorder comes on a spectrum, so your child might develop it very mildly, severely, somewhere in the middle or not at all (a genetic predisposition just increases the risk, it does not mean the child will definitely develop the disorder). They might get better over time, in case they struggle with their mental health. They might learn to manage it and cope well. Many people do.

As others have said, if you look closely in ANY family, you will find mental health problems. The question is, does the person get the help they need? I think the question to ask yourself regarding this match is: do you think you would be able to cope if your child developed it severely?

This might also be of interest to you
creatingafamily.org/adoption-category/importance-of-genetics/

For schizophrenia if both biological parents have it there is a 50:50 chance of the child having it.
For one first degree relative it is a 10% risk vs 1% risk in the general population.
It is not a single gene condition but it certainly has a big heritable component.

Schizoaffective disorder is a less clear diagnostic entity so the stats will be less clear but if both patents have had a major psychotic mental illness then yes there is certainly a risk that their children could do too.

Early trauma is definitely recognised as a risk factor for psychosis and sadly they have had that too.

There have been adoption studies and even separated twin studies done and although there is a contribution from the environment it is pretty clear that genetics do contribute heavily to risk of major psychotic mental illness ie schizophrenia and bipolar and also to suicide risk.

I am sorry to be bleak but these are pretty well agreed facts by psychiatrists.

Mental illnesses like these usually only manifest in young adult life so would not be an issue in childhood but could mean the person required extra support as an adult. The severity varies and the vast majority of people would be able to live independently and live a 'normal' life in between episodes with medication treatment.

Psychotic mental illness is very stigmatised but it's not obvious to me, as someone who works in mental health, why it should be considered so much worse than a physical disability necessarily but obviously it's an individual choice what you can cope with.

I haven’t adopted or anything but this thread popped up and I wanted to share my experience.

My brother was diagnosed a couple of years ago with schizophrenia. I think this kind of diagnosis can be scary and quite taboo. Yes, it was a very difficult time but I just have to say he is the most amazing person ever and I’m so proud of the way he manages his illness- there is so much help out there for mental health and it is getting better all the time, he is what I would consider healthy and he is on medication that works for him. I don’t see it any differently to physical illness. Like for example, if he had a heart condition he would have to get his meds checked every now and then.

There is likely to be more progression in the future with treatments too, and if you are aware of it and know the children’s background you would be able to keep an eye on things as you are already one step ahead.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Rethink.org used to be called the National Schizophrenia Fellowship.
Its a highly experienced specialist group and you can trust their info. So please have a long and thorough look round their website.

gives likelihoods of being affected as follows

In the average population, 1/100
Child with one affected parent 6/100
Child with both parents affected 45/100

I think there are two things here, firstly mental illness which is idiopathic/due to chemical imbalance/where there is a significant genetic link/something someone is born with, and secondly MH problems or triggers where there is unresolved trauma, ACEs and emotional problems because of those things.

I think that a part of keeping good mental health is knowing and living within our own limits, and your DH is wise to be questioning things in relation to the first mental illness above - loving someone who has schizophrenia and knowing you cannot stop the symptoms they live with 24/7 is going to be hard - though I also agree with pp above, that schizophrenics who learn to live with their symptoms are amazing

However, in relation to the second sort of MH problem referred to above, ie problems or triggers caused by trauma or ACEs, I disagree with pps about expectations, because my experience and understanding about how childhood trauma and ACEs contribute to adult MH is that a huge amount can be done to help children who have suffered trauma to recover fully and to avoid MH issues altogether in adulthood, not just learn to mitigate or manage. This is what psychiatrists and psychologists are saying now. It matches my experience - I objectively suffered fairly severe trauma in childhood and recovered - and I think user has said something similar about her experiences - and I have known plenty of non adoptees who moved on from severe ACEs to live a fulfilled life and to not suffer from MH problems.

People have mentioned the rate of MH problems in adult adoptees but it is worth bearing in mind that far more accessible knowledge and help about helping children recover from ACEs and trauma is available now vs even five years ago, let alone when now adults were children. There is also more effective help for adults as survivors than before.

I think it is much easier to help someone recover successfully from trauma when they are very young and this should be the aim and expectation now.

Related to the above, in relation to recovery, the adult adoptees I know who do have serious MH problems have a combination of unresolved trauma, not having been given the right help to deal and process it when young, not taught how to cope with life adversities, have fragmented memories and half understandings of what caused the trauma, sought professional help years ago but were very badly let down, etc.

The stark contrast with adoptees I know who have recovered is that, in simple terms, the recovered adoptees either got the right help or found the right help, that they have a really good awareness of what had happened and its affects and of themselves, that they learned how to deal and process and move on and following on from this, learned to deal with day-to-day adversities well.

As I said, there is wider and clearer knowledge and understanding and help available now, and I agree with a pp that this is increasing all the time. Having said all this it is fair to say that it can still be hard to find the right professionals, and I think more research and guidance is needed in relation to adoption and the best way to parent children who have to be brought up away from bio family.