Does the low functionning schizophrenics are more rare?

I am a bit like my dad. I think a had a grand dad like this too. Since kid i was sleeping always a lot. The docs were confused with me cause for them a main symptom of a psychosis is the lack of sleep… Ive always lacked an energy and i was jealous of all these dynamic girls around me. They had something that i never had… and with the time, it just gotten worse… i started to lose my emotions, i started to have those strange inner sensations, i was dragging my foot on the floor… plus, i am really low functionning…
My ill friend is the opposite, she didnt know the lack of energy to this point. i sometimes cant even turn off my laptop in the evenings lol…
whatever, ill hope that meds will help me :slight_smile:
But it really happened me to sleep for 24 hours sometimes, imagine… strange illness, lol, i am like a winter bear :D…
hugs

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No low functioning is more normal. It is very rare to be high functioning and sz, though definition of what high functioning is for the disorder varies.

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Sup anna the princess…like u asked 80% people having sz are low functioning including me…

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Yes, high functioning schizos are quite rare… On this forum we have Pixel, SkinnyMe, Ninjastar, Turtle and a few others. But the rest of us struggle to cope with this goddamn illness.

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Guys from india like aku aakash raghu are high functioning …these guys can work fulltime…!!!

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I think that to the contrary, high functioning schizophrenics are rare.
I have a significant impairment in all domains of functioning, in the prodromal stage relatively mild and now very severe.
In particular, my cognition and sleep are very poor, and this(the sleep) also affects my exercise capacity.
In any case I think that low functioning schizophrenics are very common.
According to the internet females have a better situation/prognosis than males,
perhaps that’s one of the reasons your perception is skewed.
Another thing that might skew your perception is having high functioning friends.

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There was a girl who would sleep for 22 hours everyday and stay awake for 1~2 hours only. She suffered a rare disease.

But I do not think you have the syndrome.

Those I’ve met are low functioning.

Yes, my friend is more active than me, more social. But she says she has troubles working for example. She had the diagnosis of sz in the past but she still says to me that she is bipolar. she always emphasize this which irritates me a bit. I know I should get over this too. But yeap, I should be the typical schizophrenic too. Its interesting why females have it rarely?

What delineates a high-functioning schizophrenic from a low-functioning schizophrenic? Is it the ability to function in public without presenting any symptoms of schizophrenia (‘passing’)?

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I am able to function in public, ie make conversation, do chores etc. But it’s all an act. In reality I’m not able to hold down a job, take care of myself and enjoy life.

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No, no, its for sure, I dont have this :). Its just the schizophrenia of mine. All my relatives from the side of my father were a bit ‘‘lazy’’… For my mom, it comes from this side :(.

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The ability to hold a job and a social life.

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Basically everyone on this site is more or less on the High Functioning side of things.
Low functioning schizophrenics would have a difficult time communicating via internet.

There were a couple of low functioning schizophrenics in the Hospital and they were out of touch completely with Reality.
Locked into their own world.

Does it not depend a lot on how things are being estimated? (1) Person with schizophrenia comparing them self to the average person with schizophrenia (2) Comparing them self to the average person with another mental illness (3) Comparing with the average non mentally ill person.

Also functioning levels may vary from individual to individual across domains such as occupational and social,daily life skills and any other one can think of.

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It’s the high-functioning SZs that are rare. I’m always the most functional SZ in any support group I’ve been in. I’m starting to feel like a statistical outlier.

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Yea, low functioning sz’s are typical. They’re more likely to do things like laugh to themselves out loud in public, mumble to themselves, have poor hygiene like washing their clothes or bathing. They don’t pay attention to the outside world and they have little concentration and a ton of negative symptoms.

High functioning sz’s are more rare, but I wonder why that is. Maybe the low functioning ones are like that way kind of because they don’t take their meds or because they’re on an ineffective med. I hope one day the R&D teams of these psych drugs can match a person’s brain chemistry with the correct medicine that has the most effect. Maybe then we’d see some low functioning ones turn into high functioning ones, I can only hope.
High functioning sz’s are more rare, especially since the ones that can pass will pass and you’ll never find them to count them lol. However, there are a number of statistical outliers like Elyn Saks who made major accomplishments like graduating from Oxford and getting tenured at USC. Saks even did a study and found a bevy of hidden high functioning sz’s all hiding in plain sight as doctors, teachers, programmers, etc…

The one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people have a huge disparity between what they’re like psychotic and what they’re like medicated. Psychotic I couldn’t bath, leave the house, stop laughing to myself, painting crosses all over the house, etc…but then I got on abiilfy and voila Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree earned from a Cal State University (it was no Oxford, but hey). So, it’s not like they’re permanently doomed to be low functioning (for some anyways). The right med or the right support system, or whatever, can move a person from low functioning to high functioning. There’s hope!

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Females don’t have it rarely, either. Wikipedia says it’s about 1.4:1 male:female, which is closer to 1:1 than 2:1.

She might be right. It’s been documented that relatives of those with schizophrenia often have similar symptoms, but milder ones and fewer. This could be because they have some of the genes but didn’t get the full syndrome.

Well, when you have doctors telling you, “don’t stress yourself out by trying for a recovery that’s not possible” and the facilitators (SPIT!) at every group you attend discourage anything that would help one rise above any form of mediocrity… It’s no damn wonder there is so little recovery by so many.

Life as an SZ can suck. It will also suck a LOT MORE when you have no money and no power. My advice to everyone is to better themselves as much as possible. Maybe you’ll become employable and self-sufficient. Worst case, you’ll wind up in a better position than you started from. Get whatever money and power you can for yourself. Isn’t that worth fighting for?!?

“Retreat Hell! We just got here!” ~ Major Lloyd W. Williams

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You’re right, a lot can be learned hopelessness and learned dependency and learned worthlessness.

The system does spout all this “just rest, just go on disability and stop thinking” mentality all over us and that def does effect our ability to change our level of functioning. Add that to the fact that we learn we’re “worthless, hopeless and will always be dependent” and that’s a recipe for disaster.

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