Residential Treatment for Co-Occurring Schizoaffective Disorder and Bipolar Disorder

Schizoaffective disorder distorts perception in profound and troubling ways, while bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings that undermine a person’s ability to control their emotions or behavior. Schizoaffective disorder always occurs in conjunction with either major depression or with bipolar disorder, making it one of the more challenging of all mental health conditions to treat and overcome.

At BrightQuest, we create multi-level treatment plans that address the entire complex of symptoms that can emerge from the presence of schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder. If any other mental or behavioral health problems have been detected, our skilled treatment experts will tailor a client’s recovery plan to deal with them as well.

Our personalized care programs for co-occurring disorders offer:

• Admissions and Comprehensive Assessment Services. BrightQuest admissions procedures are streamlined for convenience and efficiency and will make your loved one (and your family) feel at ease from the moment they arrive at our facility. Our comprehensive evaluation and diagnostic services will provide your loved one with a thorough and complete diagnosis, which allows for targeted treatment and is necessary to ensure long-term recovery.
• Family Involvement.  Your family can make an indispensable contribution to your loved one’s recovery, through your active participation in their healing plan. You’ll interact with them directly and constructively in family therapy sessions, learn much more about recovery by attending our virtual psycho-education classes, and network with the family members of other BrightQuest clients in our lively and informative multi-family support groups.
• An Inclusive Therapeutic Community and Multiple Levels of Care. At BrightQuest, we welcome all new arrivals with open arms. We respect everyone’s specific needs and honor their unique journeys to wellness, which we strive to empower. To ensure the very best in customized treatment services, BrightQuest treatment plans are administered at multiple levels of care, which are appropriate for clients at various stages of recovery.
• Lasting Behavioral Change. BrightQuest treatment programs are constructed with long-term healing in mind. Your loved one will leave our care feeling refreshed, reenergized, and inspired to make an enduring commitment to healthy living.

Recovery from co-occurring schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder requires expert treatment services delivered by experienced professionals, like those who serve the public at BrightQuest. Working together with you and your loved one, we’ll create a formidable team that possesses the knowledge and fortitude to overcome even the most complex mental health issues.

When schizoaffective disorder is diagnosed along with bipolar disorder, signs of psychosis will manifest simultaneously with the symptoms of mania and depression. The symptoms of co-occurring schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder include:

• Delusions (fixed false beliefs that are evidence-free and largely irrational)
• Hallucinations (individuals undergoing psychotic episodes frequently hear voices that aren’t there)
• Incoherent and illogical speech
• Disordered and confused thinking
• Deep paranoia and fear, without the presence of obvious cause
• Impulsive, unhealthy, self-destructive behaviors
• Extreme withdrawal, sometimes to the point of catatonia
• Manic mood swings, marked by feelings of invincibility, euphoria, and uncontrollable energy
• Periods of depression, which produce feelings of emotional emptiness and low motivation

If your family member is exhibiting any of these symptoms, the need for intervention should be considered urgent. Emergency medical treatment may be required in the beginning, but ultimately you’ll need to enroll them in a superior-quality residential treatment program, like that offered by BrightQuest.

A person showing the symptoms of multiple mental or behavioral health conditions will struggle to survive. They may lose their jobs, neglect their children, fall behind on bills or household management duties, or lose the capacity to communicate effectively with the most important people in their lives. They may become disconnected with the world, especially if they experience a psychotic break with reality.

When your loved one’s symptoms of psychosis make normal functioning impossible, the circumstances are dire and call out for immediate attention. Co-occurring psychosis and mania, in particular, are a radically dangerous combination, and certainly a sign of a true medical emergency. Family members may be the only ones in a position to step in and help, and if you delay taking action, the results could be disastrous.

At BrightQuest, we offer a full range of diagnostic services, plus intensive care options for clients who enter treatment with serious medical complications. Our approach to treating complex mental illness is thorough, comprehensive, and designed to guarantee each client’s safety, no matter how severe the manifestations of their mental illness.

When you have a loved one with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, you need help and you need it now. If you’re facing this situation now but are uncertain of your next move, please contact BrightQuest today to speak with one of our highly trained mental health professionals. They can outline a diagnostic and recovery plan for your loved one that will put them on a fast track to good health and long-term freedom from debilitating mental illness.

Healing from complex mental illness is a long-term process. It can be fraught with difficulty and marked by significant ups and downs. Despite the immense challenges, lasting and sustainable recovery can still be achieved, and this is where the support of loved ones can make a difference.

At BrightQuest, we encourage family involvement in recovery because we recognize your participation as vital to the healing process. Your entire family has been affected by your loved one’s condition and its aftereffects, and your efforts to put your struggles in the past will be far more successful if you all pull together.

BrightQuest Treatment Centers options for family participation in recovery include:

• Family therapy. Family therapy sessions at BrightQuest are dynamic, eye-opening, and solution-oriented. Your love and encouragement will both inspire and reassure your family member, by letting them know you believe in them and will always be there for them when they need you the most.
• Biweekly psychoeducational groups. These enlightening video conference sessions will expand your understanding of mental illness and the recovery process. Each meeting is supervised by a licensed mental health professional, who can answer your questions and offer advice on how to help loved ones in recovery stay on the right path.
• Multi-family support groups. Every other month, we sponsor support group meetings for the family members of our clients at our facilities in San Diego and Nashville. Led by experienced mental health professionals, these constructive and informative sessions will put you in contact with others who have the same doubts, fears, and concerns you have, but who also have plenty of helpful advice and insights to share.

When you participate in our family plan, you can do so knowing you’ll be making a significant impact. Your caring concern and unconditional support will inspire your loved one to confront their mental health issues head-on, with hope and determination rather than dread or discouragement.

BrightQuest Treatment Centers recovery plans are developed by world-class mental health experts. They have in-depth knowledge of all types of mental health conditions and understand the complex interactions that make co-occurring disorders so complicated to treat.

Your Residential Treatment Experience at BrightQuest

BrightQuest’s world-class experts will develop a refined, multilayered treatment program that offers a full range of appropriate healing services to your loved one. The serene environment at our facilities will enhance the effectiveness of this program—your loved one will be treated to three nutritious and delicious meals daily, enjoy access to well-lit and attractive common areas and lovingly landscaped outdoor green spaces where they can recuperate, reflect, read, or socialize, have opportunities to stay fit and active at all times, and have plenty of time to relax in spacious and generously furnished private living quarters that offer all the comforts of home.

In our compassionate recovery programs, we offer:

• Daily individual, group, and family therapy
• Monitored use of prescription medications including antipsychotics for psychosis and mood stabilizers and/or anti-depressants for the symptoms of bipolar disorder
• Vocational and educational  instruction
• Coping skills and living skills classes, plus other personalized self-development instruction as requested
• Individualized wellness programming that emphasizes holistic healing of the mind, body, and spirit

Overcoming complex mental illness is immensely challenging. But with our skilled and compassionate assistance, your loved one can rise to meet that challenge, and the lessons they learn while doing so will stay with them for the rest of their days.

BrightQuest Levels of Care for Co-Occurring Disorders

Personalized treatment plans are effective since they can be carefully adjusted to suit the particular requirements of each person with unique life stories and distinctive medical histories. At BrightQuest, we go to great lengths to ensure our recovery plans are fully individualized, and our innovative levels-of-care model allows us to accomplish this task.

BrightQuest clients move through treatment at levels of care appropriate to their present condition, which will inevitably evolve as treatment unfolds. Our current level of care options include:

• Residential Treatment Center (RTC). Our Residential Treatment Centers are non-locked, licensed residential treatment facilities that provide 24-hour supported and monitored living, and is our highest level of care.
• Residential/Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) Prep. Our Residential PHP Prep homes are non-locked, licensed residential treatment facilities that provide 24-hour staff support while clients are in the home. Clients in this level of care are beginning to take on more autonomy, but still require prompting and reminders from staff and others to engage in coping skills and basic activities of daily living.
• PHP with Housing. Our PHP with Housing level of care may be the recommended entry point to BrightQuest for some of our new clients. Though no overnight, live-in house manager is present, BrightQuest staff regularly visits each house in addition to each morning and evening, 7 days per week, to verify medication compliance, chore completion, and to confirm that the house is in good order.
• Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) with Housing. Our IOP homes are residential homes located in the surrounding community. BrightQuest staff regularly visit each house throughout the day to verify medication compliance, chore completion, and to confirm that the house is in good order. Clients in this level of care have begun to consistently take personal responsibility and initiative in managing the various domains of their lives. This level is designed with special focus on increased independence. 
• IOP. Clients who successfully step down from previous levels of care will continue to engage in structured BrightQuest programming while adjusting to living on their own.
• Outpatient. Aftercare programs offer a continuation of individual, group, and family therapy, along with medication management services and specialized personal development instruction. Faithful participation in aftercare will help reinforce the important lessons learned in treatment, as clients complete their transformation to self-sufficiency and sustainable wellness.

Successful treatment programs for complex mental illness can take a year or more to complete. BrightQuest recovery plans are thorough in their design and all-inclusive in their application, and our careful attention to every detail will bolster your loved one’s courageous and determined efforts to overcome their schizoaffective and bipolar disorders.

The BrightQuest Therapeutic Community

At BrightQuest Treatment Centers, individuals who come to us for assistance will be fully embraced by the greater BrightQuest recovery community. Their therapists will listen to their concerns with compassion and empathy, and offer them individualized treatment services that precisely address their needs. Their interactions with peers will be constructive and hopeful, as everyone works together to create an uplifting atmosphere that is motivational and empowering.

Our comprehensive, personalized treatment plans incorporate the best in evidence-based recovery therapies and healing methodologies. But our ultimate mission is to empower our clients in ways that will carry over to other areas of their lives.

If your loved one is suffering from co-occurring schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, contact us today.

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