These medications are well known for increasing cognition in those who suffer from Schizophrenia. If someone who suffers from Schizophrenia takes these medications will their IQ increase beyond their baseline score? Can someone who takes these medications effectively become more intelligent than they originally were? I’ve seen several studies showing that these medications can make people smarter and even read one study showing that some of those who took these medication went from average-below average intelligence to above average intelligence. What is the conventional wisdom regarding AP’s and cognitive enhancement?
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They can increase IQ by allowing you to have a clear mind and not have psychotic symptoms which would lower IQ. Some meds lower IQ like Topamax. Benzos can cause memory problems if abused.
I read those studies too. I’ve experienced both. An increase in IQ and a decrease in my IQ.
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I’ve heard from doctors that they expected my iq to improve. Abstract thought isn’t what it used to be, but I have more common sense.
I am absolutely not the person I was cognitively before the SZ, even now that I’m stable on APs. I remember being able to have leaps of intuition where I could intuitively understand complex computer problems, and how these “flashes of understanding” mostly disappeared after my diagnosis. I still do very well with some effort, but it’s obvious to me that the illness shaved some points off my IQ.
I can believe that about Topamax. I took it and turned aggressive
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I honestly don’t know whether taking APs has increased or lowered my IQ. At 61 I doubt I am as cognitively able as I was in my 30s but that’s no doubt an age related thing . I think quite a few of us have some area or areas of cognitive difficulty.Well I certainly do. I’m pleasantly surprised though at how intelligent quite a few people here are . I do think if you are floridly psychotic you are going to have difficulty utilising the intelligence you’ve got.
I feel a poll coming on
- APs have increased my IQ
- APs have decreased my IQ
- APs haven’t changed my IQ
- I’m not sure.
0 voters
I’m not sure if AP’s have impacted my IQ but I’m pretty sure taking mood stabilizers like Depakote have dulled my cognition.
I’m not sure about IQ (it’s a very old concept about intelligence, isn’t it?), but I went to a psychiatric congress here in Brazil and there are researches suggesting that there is a certain dose of antipsychotic which can help you with your cognition. I felt a huge difference when I decreased from 20mg to 15mg of aripiprazole. What I understood about the congress is that it’s convenient to have a dose which don’t let you get psychotic again and don’t affect your cognition a lot.
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I don’t think there is any conventional wisdom. A drug that might raise one person’s IQ twenty points might drop another person’s ten points. The AP Haldol totally destroyed my ability to write. Geodon and Seroquel give me a pretty good head for writing.
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Before I was on medicine I thought I was a supreme being. So in that aspect I feel that my IQ has gone down even though it probably went up.
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I’d say that SZ changed my IQ, but the meds helped me salvage as much as possible.
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In case anyone is interested. This study says that some people took the antipyschotics and went from average-below average intelligence to above average.
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I agree with this. Overall, I think they have decreased my IQ. But I’ve gained some benefits like not having severe OCD (being a perfectionist to a fault), losing time, and making mistakes. Sometimes, I felt like I lost 40 IQ points (Doctors say 10 IQ points). But I’ve also experienced an increase in IQ like when I could remember streets forwards and backwards and remember 100 digits of PI. I also took a class on Thermodynamics: Algorithms and Computations. I did well for a while until I dropped it (didn’t have experience programming and didn’t know any physics at the time). I guess it all depends on my state of mind at the time and how the medications are faring with me.
So you’re saying it went down due to the illness but went back up due to the medications? But overall your IQ is below basline?
I don’t know I guess. It fluctuates constantly. Right now, It’s in the 120s from online IQ tests from Mensa. Lowest I’ve tested is 109 and the highest I’ve tested is in the 140s.
I’m one of those people that thinks IQ isn’t static. I can change depending on how you feel and can improve with experience in life as we get older.
I dunno if the aps have decreased my iq or my illness has. But I don’t really think or have ideas anymore. And I’m almost a mute now. Every time I tell a story it’s crickets.
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My meds sedate me so I feel dumber.
I think the online IQ tests from Mensa,many of which are culture fair/non-verbal , are only worthhile if you have an even(or near even) PIQ-VIQ split . Admittedly that is most people.
Having VIQ significantly > than PIQ, as I do, and they’ll underestimate your intelligence . For example the Mensa Hungary adaptive test has me scoring 73. I’m obviously quite a bit brighter than a 73 IQ.
Re adaptive : The test is adaptive: the next task also depends on the answers given earlier. The order of tasks is thus different for everyone. You will receive up to 25 jobs during filling. (Using chrome to translate into English)
http://adaptiv-iq-teszt.mensa.hu/test.php?tid=1
On the other hand with PIQ significantly > than VIQ then IQ will be overestimated.
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My IQ has been impacted only by clearing my mind. It is easier to think with the ap in my system than without.