Did psychosis worsen your personality?

DX'd - Other
1

For me it worsened it a lot. My parents said so too.
I was always the top in most of my school classes. Super clean and super organized. Had lots of smart friends. Never got mad or violent. During psychosis I nearly became a criminal. Made bad drug addicts friends. I became irritable, always mad, violent etc

But meds got some of my original personality back. I am waay less violent. I got rid of all my bad friends. I have 3 good ones left but I only speak to them online everyday. I am somewhat organized. But I stay in bed all day and only bath once every week. I see that meds did improve me and kept me out of prisons and away from death.

2 Likes
2

Getting SZ made me really bitchy and angry. Overly sensitive.

4 Likes
3

That was at the beginning of my psychosis, it got worse after.

3 Likes
4

I realized people don’t care. At least we got us schizophrenics and a community here to talk here.

Maybe I should learn to not try and convince people of my experiences. Maybe I should try and move on the best as I can. A lot of it is anger and feeling wronged. It’s worse than hell in some ways. It’s a bad hand dealt.

1 Like
5

I would have been the type not to over share and stuff. But I was always a curious person and was noisy and asked a lot of questions. But for me, it’s new. It’s a way to survive and cope with what I’m living through.

2 Likes
6

I was a dishonest sleezebag prior to my SZ diagnosis, and for the first few years as an SZ. It was AA that helped me realize my behaviour was wrong and to start fixing it.

3 Likes
7

Me too but I am sure you weren’t like that since you were born. Well at least in my case. For me up until 15 y.o. I had my original good personality then from 15 until my diagnosis at 20 y.o. it was worse. Then it got better on meds but not as good as before 15 y.o.

8

I’m not too sure if it’s changed my personality. It has made me a little more spacey. My mind is pretty much always occupied. It has made me grow a lot also. The growth has allowed me to become a better person. It’s also made me less paranoid about small things. I do have more paranoia over certain subjects.

2 Likes
9

I am untidy, “lazy”, impulse prone and needy.

I don’t like where I am, and it seems bleak to think that it can be improved on. But, it’s about how you cope and manage.

I’ve found, the tidying hasn’t improved, but I work harder to tidy. So even though I make a mess of my belongings, I work “hard” (if I may say so) to actually tidy it up.

“Lazy” is more demotivated. But I keep pushing myself to continue with the routine I have. Three days of the week I go into uni, and two days of the week I go into work.

Impulse prone; I will say and do as I wish. I try to check myself, but this is a skill - just do less things and it isn’t an issue.

Needy - this one is funny because it is more how others, if they get to know me, will see me.
At first glance I seem far from needy, but as soon as I open up. It’s all needy. I tackle this by closing myself off from people and also by hoping to be self sufficient. I am trying my best to work for income and study for future income. Even if the future doesn’t materialise, I am actively trying to focus on having things to do — this will nullify the needy psychology in my mind; a result of feeling weak. It’s the same for everyone. If you feel weak or less when compared to someone else; you become prone to wanting to be more (this is what needy is).

I don’t want any of the above traits to define me. My personality should be what it was before I got ill. It should be a representation of the things I strive for.

The way to attack this problem (for me) is to become interested in topics that add to my character. (It could be the autism in me but) I think , as long as I have interests that I pursue - I will feel better about myself and engage in less comparison to others of my age or my peers.

I hope everyone overcomes the damage of psychosis: because psychosis really distorts or restarts how grown up and mature and flexible and able the mind is.

God willing, by the time I hit 35; i should be a much better man than I am now.

2 Likes
10

@shutterbug @Aziz We’ve all made mistakes fellas. I made some mistakes before I got sz too. We can’t beat ourselves up over it. I’m pretty sure everybody has done something or somethings they regret. The important part is that as humans we learn from our mistakes. It’s also imperative we don’t repeat them. I know it’s easier said than done not to beat ourselves up over our mistakes.

3 Likes
11

My personality started worsening at 15-16 y.o. until I was put on meds at 21 y.o. On meds its better but not as good as before I was 15 y.o.

1 Like
12

You’re a cool cat. I wouldn’t sweat it.

1 Like
13

Oh, I made some all right. I didn’t grow up in a healthy household and autism combined with disfigured morals is a lousy combination. Drugs and booze were the gasoline on that fire. The important thing is that I know not to repeat those mistakes nowadays and that I can work with others in sobriety as a form of restitution for past actions.

2 Likes
14

I hope that Vraylar will give me back the personality I had before 15 y.o., the original one.

1 Like
15

For me its the sz that caused this. I think Vraylar will give me back my original personality that I had before 15 y.o.

16

Since having sz I left my high class friends and went with low class friends. My family says that too. But now on Risperdal I am in between, no real life friends or addictions or bad behavior. I am now between low and high class. I was high class before 16 y.o. so that’s my original personality that I will get back hopefully with Vraylar. My personality now is on standby until trying Vraylar lol

17

Before sza I was motivated and had ambition to study at varsity. I painted a lot of pictures. And I knew what I wanted in life. And my hygiene was good.

After sza I became demotivated and unsure what I wanted in life. Haven’t painted a lot anymore. Go for months without painting a thing. Hygiene less good. And hardly clean house.

Oh yes, and when I have psychosis I become potentially evil as Alien infects me and his thoughts in my head trying to make me do bad things I’d never do if he wasn’t there. And I harm myself when I’m psychotic.

1 Like
18

The aftermath of psychosis definitely wrecked my personality for a while:

Had a hard time listening to music I previously enjoyed, as it was too “suggestive” in nature.

Also couldn’t watch anything remotely violent or gorey.

It was tough-- I had to “re-desensitize” myself to a lot of things I once enjoyed.

I think @Aziz has been through something similar with the show House.

1 Like
19

Before SZ I was a super neat freak - really well organised and aced all of my school exams

Got me top results in college and entry into UK medical school

During the period my psychosis started I became paranoid and didn’t trust my family. I became very angry and violent with my family

Since taking meds I’m no longer angry and violent but I’ve lost that perfectionist streak in me. I like to think I’m still intelligent but I have to admit my mental power does seem a bit reduced but that’s because of the anti-psychotic I am on

1 Like
20

Same thing for me, what meds are you on?
For me I found partial dopamine agonists/antagonists to be much better than all other meds. Vraylar, Abilify and Rexulti are the only partial ones.

1 Like