For me they started 3yrs before my diagnosis. I read a study that said 73% of szics had their negative symptoms appear before their diagnosis and before their positive symptoms.
They got worse gradually with time but now are stable and not getting worse or better. I just learned to ignore them and not complain or get down/depressed about it so I am a bit happier.
" “ Negative symptoms commonly appear during the prodromal phase of schizophrenia and before the first acute psychotic episode (Figure 2). Among patients with negative symptoms , 73% had them before the onset of positive symptoms and 20% experienced them within the same month as positive symptoms ”
I first started to notice my Anhedonia shortly before my first episode. I remember having a hard time enjoying things that I used to enjoy. It wasn’t nearly as severe as it is now though. As for the rest of my negatives, I didn’t really notice them until after I had had my episodes but they could very well have been slowly sneaking up on me. I was working two jobs prior to sz hitting though so I don’t think my “Lack of motivation” was there at the time.
Hard to say, I was in the throes of substance abuse as SZ approached. I know that I was using a lot of speed towards the end as I had very little energy. Not sure what was due to SZ and what was due to addiction. It was horrible when the SZ really hit because I would go catatonic for extended periods. Started to become more manageable when I accepted my DX, stopped fighting meds, and got on the recovery train.
I still feel exhausted 99% of the time but I gained the ability to push back at some point.
I noticed it around 6 years after my first big episode. It probably was a bit gradual but I noticed it around 2016- 2017.
2016 I had flat affect for about a year I was completely monotone it was bizarre. Then it just went away one day. And I felt slower, had the blips of feeling almost catatonic staring at walls feeling and lack motivation/ avolition.
I just get by with caffeine and forcing myself to do things. Developing a refusal to quit attitude
For me the couple of years before a first admission, and an official dx, were marked by increased anxiety and depression. I’d been on a decline academically for years, but it accelerated in the 18 months or so before that 1st psych admission. I can’t remember experiencing a lot of pleasure. The most enjoyable thing was swimming in the lake of Zurich in the summer of 1974.