Because you don’t tend to have cognitive problems(not everyone). I was talkin to pdoc today and even though I have been bed ridden for quite some time besides adls and seeing family I am cognitively very sharp. I have severe negative symptoms but Sz spared me the alogia and so forth. My pdoc says people who arent on meds and get psychotic, their brain gets fried. She said a speaker came in and said that everytime you become psychotic u lose 1% brain volume.
For this reason my pdoc considers me high functioning. So if u are not struggling with cognitive symptoms AND can get out of bed because you still see some things as interesting, then you are very high functioning cuz ur a step above me!
I think quite a lot of people here have cognitive difficulties to varying degrees. No doubt not as severe as those unable to post on forums but still probably having some measure of adverse effect.
I don’t have schizophrenia but delusional disorder and I don’t feel any cognitive impairment. I can read perfectly without rereading anything. I can write not just post but stories with a beginning, a middle and an end. I can take walks without problem, or talk to people, or doing most of the things I want to do.
I appreciate these kind of posts, because you remember me that I’m not doing so bad (when I feel that this medication es killing me, I mean).
Thank you for sharing your experience. People like you are the ones who opened my eyes to this world of mental illness.
These two being my favourites though, as I certainly believe that it is relative to the individual and what specific area of life we are talking about functioning within.
This definitely isn’t a clearly defined matter. I also agree with what @Cj56 said too.
Alogia is a negative symptom, not cognitive. Although verbal fluency deficit is cognitive so there is some overlap. I have marked cognitive symptoms and they only seem to be getting worse.
I have psychosis several times a week. I suppose there is no way to prevent it. Of course I can always drop out of school and live in a group home or with my parents.
I don’t usually comment on these, but I’ve seen a lot lately, so: Can we please stop with these pissing contests? Everyone here suffers in their own way, or they wouldn’t be here. One person might seem high functioning to someone else because of one aspect, but they might not see all the other areas that person struggles with. Yes, some people may appear to function better than others, but that’s just a surface observation. There’s no need to downplay one person’s illness or get into a competition on who suffers the most.