What are these pills, these antipsychotics supposed to do? Like,I know with schizophrenia we have cognitive symptoms. Like, are they supposed to make us as smart as we can be? Not smarter, ofcourse, you can’t just “suddenly become smart”. Are they supposed to just treat hallucinations and THATS IT? How do you know if you’re hallucinating when it feels real to you?
Let me take a moment and bring it back…
I’ve just been struggling with this for 3 years inside my head and I just want answers.
Is it just to treat crazy people? Because how come I find something that I’ve read to be about being introverted, or not being up to your full potential. Am I just damn stubbornly misinformed?
My main question is, what are these pills supposed to do?
They dial back your positive symptoms to the point where you can start to regain function and build coping strategies for dealing with the leftover symptoms. While some can become symptom-free (hallucinations and delusions), most of us require meds plus some form of therapy (CBT has increasingly good science behind it).
Also, Google ‘neural plasticity’ – if you’re not using your noodle, you’ll lose some of it. Keep pushing yourself to read and learn even when you don’t feel like it. It may not make you smarter, but it will keep you from becoming dumber.
Edit: Negative symptoms are a b@stard to get rid of. Sarcosine is the one thing I’ve found that helps in that department supplement wise. I put most of my energy into overcoming negative symptoms.
FWIW: This is my 25th year struggling with SZ. I’m married, have a teen daughter, work-full time, and am very active in my community. I would be considered high-functioning by neurotypical standards. I got here by taking my meds, working with my doctor, and fighting toward recovery every day of the week.
The current medications mostly just treat hallucinations, paranoia, and delusional thinking. There is a vitamin called Sarcosine that can treat flat affect, avolition, and disorganized symptoms. A new med called min-101 is being developed, and it is supposed to treat the negative symptoms. It’s still in trials, though.
The antipsychotics are supposed to either inhibit or aid certain neurotransmitters in the brain thought to be responsible for certain symptoms of schizophrenia. Thus I view them as a form of stabilization of symptoms.
The “anything else” is psychological in nature, and I view that as critical to getting better.
