Lived with negative symptoms for many years before finding out there was such a term/thing?

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I’m wondering why my pdocs never recognized i had negative symptoms. Out of the ten years of sz only the last two have i known about the term “negative symptoms” and all they entail. I discovered this on my own btw.

After my first psychosis i felt so strange, i didnt get sza (now just sz) label till a year later after another relapse; at first they thought psychosis might be drug related. But in that initial year i would go to local pdocs and i thought it was haldol had permanently altered my brain and that’s why i felt like doo-doo. The pdocs always told me it couldnt have been meds, but they never clued me in on negs. I remember literally crying to my mom about how i used to be emotional and now wasnt, but she didnt believe me.

Fast forward through 4.5 years of half functional semi-psychotic existence and another relapse left me in jail where i attempted suicide (cant say how cuz post will be deleted). The relapse also left me with devastating negative symptoms. Got out of jail and thought i felt awful cuz of brain damage from attempt (which i do have minor damage from not really cognitively tho). Complained to pdoc for three years of extreme restlessness, and inability to watch tv etc. but she didnt mention negative symptoms to me. Then i took an abmormal psych course at university and finally learned about negative symptoms two years ago, and it came together like but cheeks.

So why?
and this is my longest post…ever

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No doctor ever explained it to me either. Maybe they don’t explain it because it’s obvious to them.

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It really would have saved me a lot of trouble, my pdoc watched how school made my life hell, while i continued to believe that my “brain injury” would get better and my problems would dissipate.

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It took me 5 years to figure out that i wasnt suffering from depression like ppl told me but instead negative symptoms

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I learned about negative symptoms from this site.

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Crying while not emotional ? How did you pull that off? I can’t jerk a tear for the life of me !! This flat affect sucks balls… :soccer:

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…another one of those ball sucking moments.:nerd_face:

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I can still cry, my mind feels dry but something deep inside still lets me cry.

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I envy you. Crying can be therapeutic.

I think @frencheese also envies you. She recently wanted to cry badly, and she couldn’t.

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Sorry to hear your experience with health care, Esm. As I’m sure you know, many pdocs fail to mention negative symptoms during appointments because effective treatment with medication is currently out of reach. Stimulants may have their place in treating symptoms. The question is: which one is suitable? Psychiatrists may recommend counselling but talking therapy for negative symptoms is not a real solution.

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My doctor never mentioned it to me either. I brought it up to her after reading it on this site.

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Maybe u r right, if they could treat them with meds they would prolly be more alert and anxious to treat them. Otherwise if u dont mention it maybe they just dont care, cuz what can they do anyways?

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You are partly right. Simply talking to a therapist won’t lead anywhere. But applying some CBT principles in your everyday life, with help from a trained therapist, can make a real difference.

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Maybe cbt, maybe if u get off ur a55 anyways it will make a difference.