I’d say considering the illness itself, like everyone said, High Functioning would be more rare as opposed to Low.
Should I have this illness, which most people are thinking so when I mention all my issues, I’d probably be classed as Higher Functioning, though at times I have moments of Low Functioning where I have a lot of difficulty doing what I need to and feel like everything’s a task.
I still manage to work and do what I have to but I mostly keep a facade to avoid people being so worried for me.
I tend to think there is a group of about 25 percent that are higher functioning that don’t seek support . And may not be statistically reflected on this site. Not to the 25 percent level anyway. Some have gone off meds and may not consider themselves sz anymore. This has been what I’ve researched anyway. We do have a few in this group but don’t know if it it’s 25 percent.
Yeah being compliant with medications is a big part of it.
Off my meds I would instantly become low functioning.
I think this was certainly true in the mid 70s when I was initially diagnosed with schizophrenia , but I am not sure how true it is nowadays .
I know it was very much about maintaining a minimum level of functioning rather than actively helping to progress beyond that. Expectations were set low and the help and support one needed to progress was very much lacking.
Some people are lucky enough to be able to progress by their own steam but for most a certain amount of help and support is needed… That has nothing to do with clichéd and often inaccurate terms like learned helplessness.
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The higher functioning ones try to blend in better by not being so obvious.
Tbh i got deep in the system too. It was tough. My ex pdoc didnt believe in me and mostly my mother remains pessimistic. I can understand my doc cause i acted stubbornly and badly with her but gosh, why my mother doesnt support me? Yeah…
I think it kind of does apply to seligman’s theory of learned helplessness because we’re conditioned to not expect anything, regardless if we try. Like the dogs he did the experiment on, once they associated a shock with food they didn’t eat, likewise once we get the shock of society telling us we can’t do stuff, we just give up. It’s the opposite of what we learned at work: reward an effort. Society punishes an effort. Learned helplessness makes sense to me!
Also, I was told the exact thing in the 2000’s, don’t think about things, just relax, go home, sleep, go on disability, don’t go to school, don’t get a job, just be calm.
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My sister once said in front ot me - “lets be honest, who will want a schizophrenic for partner?”…
I think some can be high functioning in some area’s and low in others, were all so different, would hate to throw everyone in the same category.
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That’s the trouble. How to you measure functionality? If it’s not being in the hospital in X years, that eliminates a lot of people who function well between episodes, and says people who are stuck in their room for 17 years are recovered because they haven’t been hospitalized recently.
There are statistics but it’s hard to say how accurate they are.
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Perhaps it’s not so bad to go on disability. I was watching a business program today and the guest said because machines and AI are replacing so many humans, in the future, most people would receive universal income instead of having a job. Wealth will be centered around limited amount of extremely smart and powerful people.
What does high functioning schizophrenia or low functioning schizophrenia - what is the difference?
is there a consensus
?
I never seen people with sz who do a full-time job, at least around me. Those people are really rare.
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Yes. And runs a part-time business. And also does nearly full-time volunteer work.
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So what are your symptoms, if any?
Ongoing voices (aliens), delusions (implanted alien nanotech), some disorganized thinking I struggle with. Memory issues. Emotional flatness. I take Rexulti daily because if I don’t, I eventually lose insight and wind up in the hospital. I feel like I’m trying to sail my boat and bail it out all day long as well.
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The doctors and my family didn’t tell me what I COULDN’T do. They always told me what I COULD do.
If I had such symptoms I wouldn’t function in your situation. I guess you really are high functioning. I thought you have almost no symptoms.
That was when I was on Geodon with Effexor. Then I got switched to Rexulti because my damn cardiologist wouldn’t shut his yap and it doesn’t work nearly as well. PLUS my new job has a lot more social interaction every day, all day. And pressure, my God, pressure.
My head is full of @#$% right now, that’s for certain. Just have to keep buggering on.
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