The theory is that a person with “high-class” schizophrenia is having a set of skills and schizophrenia side by side. He or she acquired the skill prior to onset of schizophrenia. It does not necessarily imply a high-functioning person with schizophrenia, though.
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I acquired most of my skills long after I developed schizophrenia. I started early, at fourteen.
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ninjastar, are you still good at applying your skills currently?
all skills acquired after the age of 7 were gained with sz… that could be why its such a weird combination of them…
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flameoftherhine, did you mean your schizophrenia started when you was 7 years old?
I had most of my formal education before I fell ill with sz However, I dont think you stop learning new things after full blown symptoms start to show up. I was lucky that when I had my first psychosis and I lost my job, my dad offered me to start working in his company. This company was a consulting business which required a lof of research work for texting research proposals for government grants. When I started working there my symptoms were basically negative symptoms, tiredness, lack of drive, feeling numb and empty etc but my cognition was not that much affected so I could do the work that was my responsibility. I researched a lot of topics and read a lot of scientifc information on various fields…then I wrote socio economic impact chapters and economic outlooks etc on various R&D projects proposals for government grants. This work was good for me and my father did save my life from going downhill. I was very thankful for him to offer me this work in his company and I stayed in this position until he died from cancer. At this point I had made a pretty good recovery from the negative symptoms that I used to suffer from. The psotives were under control except now and then someting may have triggered a kind of period of feeling less good but it never escalated because I went to hospital right away or I took a benzo sleep aid and slept it out. After my dad died I continued to work a while more in this field of R&D grants. Now I am a long time out of this field and I have worked in other field like nursing and security.
Normalone, you had done the best for your father. 
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When I was actively psychotic, I wasn’t very good at applying my skills. Now that I’m stable, I am. I’m going to school and volunteering.
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I believe you mean “high functioning.”
This lady is a high-class schizophrenic:
https://douggollandotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/289186_21022.jpg
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Thank you for your correction. Maybe it is more proper to use “high-functioning”.
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I was too young to have a “before sz”. I would consider myself moderately functional.
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Hedgehog, it is good to hear that.
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If you live long enough you’re going to learn certain things whether you like it or not. Learning about people can be interesting.
The generic, obvious guide to all things in life by 77nick77.
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I have a multitude of skills, most of which were all self taught, im a bit of an autodidact i guess. Ranging from computers, to marketing, sales, every type of construction and building possible, mechanics, writing, drawing/art, design, there is no skill that do not want to master. Ive felt symptoms from a very early age and learning skills and keeping busy with projects and research is one of the things that really keeps me on track. Idle hands kind of thing i guess! But when going thru an episode i cannot concentrate and loose track of nearly everything, and it is difficult to harness and use many of the skills ive mastered. I start tons of projects and get frustrated with myself and quit halfway thru, now i have a thousand things on my list and no desire to tackle them until my head “clears” up a bit. This has been an ongoing problem my whole life and most likely has alot to do with the mania and hypomania i suffer from quite frequently. I was able to run a highly successful contracting and consulting/design company for 10 years before i become way to ill to work. Things caught up eventually and i went from extremely high functioning but a troubled addict to now completely unstable and not permitted to even think about working for a long time oer my pdoc. He wont even sign off on me taking a flight to visit my sister. He says im still too highly unstable. So its been a big swing from feeling mostly normal just troubled, to now me being a complete mess and needing to be watched and taken care of.
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7 is the earliest I can remember having episodes… remission for me so far has been only insight… gotten good at ignoring what I know is false…
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My therapist puts a lot of emphasis on saying I am an “extremely high functioning schizophrenic.”
Maybe if schizophrenia were my only condition this would be really great news and feel totally valid.
But I have problems other than schizophrenia which also bring my overall functioning down. I am maladjusted to my birth defects, I have PTSD, and I have anxiety as a diagnosis and not just a symptom, for starters.
My functioning is high but that does not mean that there are not serious problems involved. Nor does it mean I can go accomplish whatever task I choose.
These people talking about nursing school floor me. I will never attempt that in life. My symptoms would not allow it to happen. I can’t even understand the possibility, Where’s that super high-functioning now?
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That’s a big deal. A lot of people don’t get there.
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Your brain seems like overloaded. You need to relax. Are you still on medication? You were doing well.
You would need high-functioning in anxiety as well. 
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This has become too complicated. I didn’t know there was such a thing as high-functioning anxiety.
I’m gonna drink my ginger tea and shut the hell up…
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