Do you have negative symptoms? Yes or No

I always try to create a plan for each day, but it always turns out that I do not follow my plan. So it does not make sense to create any plans. I do not know whether this is positive or negative.

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I used to keep just a to do list but it rarely worked for me. A done list is different… You don’t write it down until after the task is done… It’s quite more effective than trying to plan ahead and not following through.
here is a good article on it

In medical language, positive does not mean good when referring to symptoms of sz. There is a list of positive and negative symptoms that has nothing to do with good and bad.

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I see what you mean, I misunderstood the whole thing, sorry.

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Yes. My negative symptoms are getting worse fast, and I’m starting to not care.

Two and a half years ago, I was in the deeps of apathy, lethargy, no motivation, hardly moved, lived in my Pj’s and lived deep in my head, only 3 colors in my emotional crayon box. Red Rage, Black Sorrow and rust brown as every thing in between.

I was able to borrow the light blue crayon of joy once in a great while and get up sometime. But I had nothing. Wax Build-up. I WAS Kafka’s cockroach. I was sitting motionless just watching the wall change color as the sun rose and set. Life was passing me by. I had no way to reach out and grab any of it.

But the med change really shifted something dramatic in my head. It was the crack in the shell. I needed CBT again and therapy again and starting over again to get out of that wax shell. But that first crack in the Wax was caused by a good med combo.

Now I’m going to do everything I can to never go back there.

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Yes, I have low motivation which my in laws see as laziness. Apathetic, i have a few emotions but not nearly as diverse as it once was. It took me 3 and half hours to get out of bed this morning, i finally got dressed and brushed my hair. I would have preferred to have stayed in bed.

Yes, a general inability to communicate. I find it hard to keep up with conversations, usually I am thinking of what to say or my thoughts are scrambled and I am unable to reply or continue a conversation.

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i have negative symptoms but not everyday. some days i feel better.i don’t know why it is not always.

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Okay. This is what I’m wondering about. I don’t think my son understands his illness at all, but he does take meds. He has very bad negative symptoms. I can’t tell if he’s depressed or lonely or bored or what is going on in there. I don’t know how to approach him to find out.

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I think that I finally figured out that depression is the cause of my lack of motivation - negative symptoms.

It could be a combo of some depression and Antipsychotic use.

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I don’t think that any manner in which you approach him will help either of you if he does not have some insight into his condition. You have to be able to understand the symptoms of schizophrenia in order for you to understand what is going on. Having some insight can also help to prevent a full on relapse. It is difficult for the sufferer to have insight so for you as a caregiver it will be more difficult. Negative symptoms do not go away with meds like the positive ones does that is why it is so difficult to treat them. Negative symptoms is part of the illness and has got nothing to do with laziness or depression. Some people cope better than other and some have better prognosis than other.

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I understand about the positive and negative symptoms and I know that negative symptoms rarely are treatable, but I think he thinks he’s like ā€œcuredā€ as long as he stays on his medication, and I don’t know if he realizes that he appears a little bit ā€œstrangeā€ maybe, I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect the neg symptoms to completely ever go away, but wouldn’t he need to understand that he needs to put a little effort into working on those things so that maybe one day he’ll be able to have a relationship or get a part-time job, maybe even drive again?? He doesn’t want to go to CBT. Just gets his monthly injection and that’s it. And yes, I know it’s not laziness, but some people do see it that way. I don’t care what they think, though. They can put it where the sun don’t shine LOL! So I will take your advice, and I appreciate it. Hopefully someday he will fully realize his condition and then maybe will get a little motivated?? I mean, I just don’t see how he can be happy just sitting around the house all day smoking and listening to music. I ask him all the time if he’s happy and he always smiles and says that he is, so who knows? Maybe he’s not just telling me what I want to hear. Thank you for your help. I’ll leave him alone . . . for now . . .

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[quote=ā€œWave, post:1, topic:3695ā€]
Do you suffer from negative symptoms?
[/quote]Low emotion, low energy, lack of drive or desire, minimal interest in pleasures - yes.

It’s getting better, though. I think most of my symptoms have to deal with withdrawal from Abilify. I gave it three months to work into my system and it is simply too heavy of a drug.

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I have a flat affect and poverty of thought these days. No animation in the voice, not a lot of expression. Just a low level mousey voice that is full with fear and apprehension. I have been telling my therapist that I am really good, although this is not the case. I feel like I have nothing to report, my mind goes blank, and I jump from one topic to another so I have just something, anything to talk about. I see her in a few weeks, I got the appointments down to just once a month, might have to adjust that,

Thank you for letting me post a sort of negative comment, take care!

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I have negative symptoms but I blame lack of anything to do for what ails me. so it’s situational with me. I have trouble with hygiene…flossing and showering to be exact.

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i have energy on zyprexa but i dont do a lot of things still…i lack pleasure,motivation, satisfaction of the done things :/… i have also the checking thing that mjseu talks and paranoia is positive symptom i think… there is no cure for negative symptoms,pdocs are saying that we should move ourselves to go against them… thats what i try to do :slight_smile:

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It’s criminal how much time I waste. I’m hoping to get over that. I’m also socially withdrawn, even compared to other schizophrenics. Most of the people at the assisted living center where I live are much more social than me. I have a flat affect too.

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When I was younger, I suffered mainly from very severe paranoia. Now that I’m older, although I still have this symptom to a degree, my main issues now are negative symptoms. It takes Hurculean effort to shower, wash my face, brush my teeth, change my clothes, etc…And, frankly, a lot of times, they don’t get done. My pdoc says I’m not depressed and I don’t feel sad. I live at an assisted living center too. I like to mostly keep to myself. My affect is usually normal. I have sza.

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I suffer from severe negative symptoms too. They aare very persistant. I tried sarcosine but it didn’t help much. I think i need some help

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