When looking at the scores of the people on this site on the free IQ test that was posted I was struck by how many people scored very high on it. I also remember someone saying that as a group sz’s are less intelligent than the rest of the population. I think there is a subset among sz’s that have on average a higher IQ than the rest of the population. I think that if sz’s are stable and intelligent enough to have an internet connection their intelligence tends to be higher than average. I live at an assisted living center for the mentally ill, and the great majority of the sz’s here are not very bright. Out of about forty sz’s, I would say the biggest part of them have lower than average intelligence. Every so often an intelligent sz comes through here, and he or she tends to be pretty bright and creative.
yeah, I used to think all schizophrenics are smarter, but all the schizophrenics at my clinic are rather dulled. Maybe it’s the disease and they were smarter before getting the illness? I know I seemed more intelligent before getting sick.
I think that is a very big part of it. I also think people with sz who have higher than average IQs are less likely to get diagnosed because they can compensate and hide the symptoms better.
I’ve read that there are more than expected sz’s at the lower end and the higher end of the normal distribution curve. Most sz’s I’ve met are dumb or low functioning. I’ve met a couple high functioning and smart ones. I think you need to be intelligent to figure out how to use a computer, the Internet, and post online. At least that’s what I was told by a RN.
I noticed it too. So did these researchers
I’ve met a couple of very low functioning, intelligent sz’s. With one guy you never saw any evidence of his intelligence. Maybe because he was intelligent enough to know that it doesn’t pay to parade your intelligence. He came from a very dysfunctional home. Some of the stories he told us about his home life sounded like they came from the twilight zone. Very violent and very abusive. I met him at a psychiatric hospital in Dallas. I sometimes wondered if it wasn’t his ambition to be serial killer. Several people at the hospital said he tested very high on the IQ tests. The other guy looked like a total derelict, and was prone to temperamental outbursts. He didn’t look intelligent at all. He said he had an IQ of 158. He knew a lot of vocabulary that I didn’t know, and I have a pretty good vocabulary. I can’t imagine that guy living independently.
I have some good days, but my brothers are both consistently pretty bright.
We had thousands of (mostly used) books in our house plus my dad, grandmother and aunt did a lot for us despite my mom being sick with sz.
We also had some pretty decent teachers in Catholic grammar and high schools who pretty much worked on a shoestring budget.
Keep in mind that there is a difference between “intelligent” and “functioning”
Being racked by heavy symptoms will place a burden on the mental capacity of a patient, but they aren’t necessarily dumb or unintelligent.
There are all sorts of useful skills and knowledge a person can acquire. There might be a small subset of schizophrenics who are exceptional gourmet cooks for instance.
I used to be considered ‘gifted’ in my youth, but I suspect a combination of abusing booze, weed, and having Sz took the edge off that and then some. My main claim to fame these days is that I am, “just bright enough to get into trouble.” (Mrs. Pixel’s assessment of my condition, which is probably accurate.)
Pixel.
My best friend dated this schizophrenic and autistic woman. She graduated with honors at MIT, got a PHD at MIT, was getting a post doc at Berkeley, and was a math professor at a top school. My friend said she could solve math problems by staring at a wall. I call her a super genius.
Met this schizophrenic in a mental hospital who was also a math major. I think he did research or was working on a thesis.
[quote=“pixel, post:10, topic:34193”]
“just bright enough to get into trouble.”
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Smart enough to know better, but dumb enough to do it anyway
A lot of schizophrenics can’t make it to college but that doesn’t
mean they’re not smart.