It’s a comprehensive psychiatric illness. But I do believe in some aspect is psychological.
I’m on Abilify and do none of those things. Maybe mine is partly mental. Maybe I just got used to being a certain way after being on Invega for so long. I know some of my negatives are real. I don’t know if I will ever conquer Anhedonia but maybe I can make some progress on motiviation.
Sz is considered to be a bio psychosocial illness. Medication is believed to be one of the reason for its capability to disable people from achieving what people want…
I hope you can find the right meds so it can support you better…
Did you have the same negatives since you were diagnosed? When I was first diagnosed they put me on risperdal in the hospital and then I started staying and sleeping in bed all day. The Dr told me I can’t live like that so he tried Abilify and it luckily worked. But after being on Abilify for 8yrs I developped side effects shopping and sex addiction.
you covered all your bases to not get bad response.
I noticed the Anhedonia creeping in even before I was diagnosed. I noticed I was having a hard time enjoying things. I don’t think that I really noticed lack of motivation until I after my episodes and I was stable on meds. I was probably too preoccupied with my psychosis to notice it if I did have it prior to that though. I was working two jobs prior to my psychosis though and did not seem to have issues with motivation.
My negative symptoms appeared before my diagnosis too but they were acceptable and better than now on Risperdal. Risperdal just made my negative symptoms worse. On 80mg Latuda I was able to work a low stress job. I think the equivalent dose of 6mg Risperdal is 120-160mg Latuda so maybe my negatives were better bcz I was on a low dose 80mg.
I am not against therapy, if it helps you thats good but the only thing that helped my negative symptoms is lowering the dose or changing AP.
I wish I had unlimited money, I would have went back on Abilify. The shopping addiction was too much, I was spending like crazy.
I started having negative and cognitive symptoms at the same time that I started having mood and positive symptoms. It was a bundled package. I developed schizoaffective when I was 12.
However, I didn’t know what was wrong with me until I was 23. Now that I’m aware of my different kinds of symptoms, I have noticed that my negative and cognitive symptoms have gotten worse and worse, over time. I hope that changes, that there will be no further decline.
For example, I used to get straight A’s in school. At age 12, my grades declined, a little bit. By high school, I was getting D’s. Then in 11th grade, I was getting all F’s, because I just couldn’t keep up. So, I dropped out. But I later got my GED.
I started some college schooling when I was 24 or 25. I was doing OK at first, but I was very, very slow at learning. I went at my own pace, since it was online and there was no class. I had textbooks and an online course with no teacher. But then I had a break in 2019 (age 26), and after that, I could no longer study.
My ability to learn new things is greatly impaired. I also have a lot of trouble enjoying things I used to enjoy. My avolition isn’t too bad, at the moment, but I still find it difficult to get started on tasks and finish them.
TL;DR… I don’t think that it’s in my head. It has been getting worse since age 12, long before I was ever diagnosed or knew what was happening to me.
I think a lot, if not most of it is mental. Or at least can be changed mentally. But I think changing it is not as simple as changing your beliefs. I think it takes years of hard work to get better. It’s not that we’re wrong to think they’re actual symptoms, we’re just wrong when we think there’s nothing we can do ourselves about those symptoms, given good enough recovery in other areas as well.
My negative symptoms are real and worsened by the psych meds and beta blocker I’m taking to slow down my heart.
But my lack of motivation and Anhedonia are very real.
Maybe it’s some depression causing a good amount of flatness in my life also.
I think I’m starting to agree with you @anon9798425 . And I think that, in the long run, this realization is going to be good for me.
I think so too!
Just don’t be hard on yourself. There’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t get better, and it doesn’t mean you aren’t doing your best.
I mean I agree meds are necessary for negatives.
Therapy can help break down key interpretations of what’s going on.
This topic was automatically closed 95 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.