Anyone by any chance improved their cognitive deficits so much so that it is better compared to pre diagnosis, with the help of antipsychotics obviously. I’m asking because I feel some aspects of my cognition has surpassed previous levels whereas other aspects are still a few sd below average. This journey took me 2years so someone could give me an estimate how much longer I have to wait.
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Not me. I have never surpassed pre sz level of sharpness, I don’t believe.
That being said, I believe I am significantly better than I was during the height of psychosis. During psychosis my memory and cognitives were so bad, one of my delusions was that I was being poisoned and it was eating away at my brain.
In truth, I think my focus was so bad and my brain was racing so much that wasn’t able to concentrate on things to remember them. I believe getting out of psychosis can help you to refocus mind and you will appear to have better cognition and memory. Thats my opinion anyway.
I don’t believe I have ever returned to pre psychosis levels though, no. I am not as intelligent as I used to be IMO. There may be a few different factors at work for me personally though.
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Some people believe psychotic episodes damage your brain. Whether or not this is true is up for debate.
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I have aged 10 years. Getting older is more likely to make cognition worse, not better.
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IMO, being too heavily medicated can slow you down some. It’s good for your cognition to removing psychosis, but the meds can in some cases worsen it compared to when you are free of AP’s and psychosis free
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I have diabetes which can also make you tired and mentally sluggish during part of the day. Especially if you don’t get enough sleep.
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I don’t get enough quality sleep anymore much of the time.
Not trying to be negative here, though. My opinion is that I have improved significantly since being in psychosis and I improved even more when I reduced meds to the minimum required to keep me psychosis free and stable.
I also think my guitar playing and reading music notation may be helping me mentally a bit. This could be my imagination, in all honesty, because I know that it’s supposed to, but this is my belief.
In my case, I think asking to return to a pre psychosis, 10 years younger, pre medication level of cognition is asking a bit much, but improvement can be made, IMO. And I have gained wisdom in some areas and new skills as well.
Anyway, that’s my opinion on that subject.
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I can read big books and watch movies without a problem. I don’t know how i did it
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The typical anti-psychotics are like a living death for me. I can’t do anything on them. All I can do is go through the motions of a very uneventful and plain existence, finding no happiness in anything. When I am on an atypical anti-psychotic I can write. I can enjoy the simple pleasures, like going shopping once a week, or messing around with my computer. Both the typical and the atypical ap’s weaken me quite a bit physically. That’s a drag.
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Not me. I was super sharp before my first hospitalisation. I was never the same afterwards. I blame the breakdown and the disease though. I think my first psychosis was so hard it fried my brain.
I take meds so I don’t have any more breakdowns that would further fry my brain.
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I find that some of my cognition like memory has improved and my cognition has worsened in other domains. I think that the more antipsychotics you are on the worse the cognitive abilities become. The more break downs you have the worse your illness will become in every aspects. So protect your brain health and keep taking your antipsychotics.
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Yes and no. I am more intelligent than before, having studied a BSc and MSc during this time. If anything I could say, equal to or a little less then. With more time I do believe I will be more superior.
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I have relative strengths and weaknesses, cognition wise, that were there long before serious mental illness raised its ugly head. I’m far from brilliant at planning and organising. Sequential tasks can be problematic. My visual short term memory is poor to very poor.
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Yeah my last psychotic break in 2016 hit me very hard.
I lost a lot of my cognition ever since then.
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Not at all for me
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I feel that I have lost a lot of my abilities since before the first psychosis.
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