This study found that our logical thinking can be just as good as neurotypicals if not better in some cases. Concrete thinking (a negative sz symptom) is usually associated with lower iq scores, thats why I found this article interesting because it talks about szs having a strength in some types of logical thinking.
After having your sz episode have you found that you think very logically or in black and white terms?
I know I have noticed that I am thinking much more concretely after developing sz.
What are your thoughts on this, are you good at logical reasoning/rational thinking?
It’s a great article, I had come across it as well. Points out nicely the lack of evidence for the faulty-reasoning hypothesis for sz delusions. Of course there are many biases and mistakes in sz patients, when compared to the ideal of classical logic. The same holds for neurotypicals, it has long been known. When compared to each other though, evidence for relevant reasoning mistakes has remained slim, or inconclusive would be better to say. An oldie, but still popular one is the jumping to conclusions hypothesis for delusions. One doesn’t even need tests to see that this alone cannot be the story of delusion. For if one has the tendency to jump to a (delusional) conclusion at one point, why not also jump to the next one when presented with even the slimmest of counterevidence? But no, the faulty reasoning hypothesis persists, and ad-hoc explanations like some concurrent, perhaps even contradictory fault in one’s ability to update beliefs is postulated.
Its hard to put into words…I feel like my thought process lacks flexibility. It only comes out when Im trying to take part in the higher level thinking which is required for things like expressing myself in a liberated way or solving multifaceted problems.
I feel like my mind used to exist in several dimensions now it is one dimensional…
As a schizophrenic, and from what I have observed in myself, a schizophrenic’s logic can indeed be more rational in some respects than that of neurotypicals, but it seems to me that when schizophrenics do have delusions they are more bizzare and persistent than those of the neurotypicals. For example, a schizophrenic might reason - There was an anonymous editorial in the paper about problems in Russia. There was a Russian handgun in the window of a pawnshop I walked past. Therefore someone has taken out a hit on me. - Schizophrenics might be able to adhere to theoretical rules in following syllogisms, but their assumptions about the world around them can suddenly go haywire. Sometimes this kind of thinking can lead to valuable insights in literature and other endeavors. Albert Einstein thought imagination was more important than intelligence in dealing with abstract problems of logic. There is also the “remote associations” hypothesis of creativity.
I eschew black and white thinking whenever I can because that’s how conflicts arise inside and outside of me. The narrow way of “only this” or “only that” constricts life instead of letting it be what it is meant to be: possibilities and insights.