Schizophrenia and Mental Retardation

I’m noticing my thinking and capacity to learn is different now than it was a couple of years ago. Is schizophrenia linked to mental retardation? Does it decline cognitive skills and mental processes?

If so, what’s the solution?? I can’t read or study at all!

Guys, I have a headache and can’t concentrate at all.

What are you doing med wise?

Ya gotta drink more clear fluids when taking those anti-cholinergic (see below) meds, ya know. Some anti-Ps are fairly anti-C. But Cogentin is really anti-C.

Read that same article again. Drink more water and less coffee (which cures the problem for a while… and then makes it a lot worse. Because caffeine is a diuretic stimulant and makes you pee more than you really need to. Which leads to dehydration. Which causes… headaches.)

I don’t think you really mean mental retardation, but maybe learning disabled?

Intellectual disability such as MR happens before the child is born, and once expressed is the make up of the individual for life. A learning disability can happen from brain injury in life, but it’s foolish to say that someone in their adulthood would develop MR.

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If I understood it right, schizos lose 2 sd points worth of iq. So I’m guessing 30 iq points. So let’s say your iq was 130 before onset of illness then we would expect your iq to be 100 now. Personally, I feel my iq dropped 20 points. I have no idea what my iq is. It feels like 107-110 now and I feel stupid because I used to be gifted in school and math.

Every post ive seen from you usually seems pretty thought out. Your intellectual past seems to resonate on your posts.

I was taking Haloperidol originally and now taking the local version of Apilify. It was the first time to take Apilify yesterday and now I have a headache and can’t concentrate.

Now this sucks right? What can we do about it? Is there a way to regain those points? I’m occasionally doing brain training on apps like Lumosity and Fit Brains, but they actually give me a headache.

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I would definitely, definitely try what notmoses is saying. He knows what’s going on a lot better than I do.

When’s your next appointment? If notmoses’s solution doesn’t work this is something you definitely need to bring up with your dr.

I don’t think schizophrenia causes mental retardation. I think that your meds are out of wack whether because you have too little hydration or just bad meds. You also have to remember though that some of us get grandiose fantasies. I can definitely say that my idea of my mental capacity went down after I got treatment. I used to think that I could solve quantum physics problems someday (I got it young, my strengths are English and reading).

I think this whole thing could be affecting things though, but maybe not in a bad way. My screen name is onceapoet because I was once a poet before I got treatment. After I started meds I couldn’t write poetry anymore. I started writing prose. I’m working on a book now.

Not knowing you I couldn’t say what’s going on but I can say that before starting meds and after starting meds is different. I’m schizoaffective which is schizophrenic with a mood disorder (I’m bipolar). I’ve been suicidally depressesed from almost my first memory and I think that I might have been so depressed I got a little psychotic at some point so I don’t really have a life without mental illness to go by but I can say that my brain is very different since starting meds. Definitely better. Much better. Just keep working with your doctor.

Sz seems to demand (if the pt is ever going to be comfortable in his or her skin) observing to notice to recognize to acknowledge to accept that there’s a price to pay for being sufficiently sedated by the anti-P(s) to be relatively free of the screaming yellow zonkers.

I had to be willing to give up my intellect for a while. And slowly but surely dig into the REBT and all the rest listed below. My intellect came back. Without the SYZs (unless I got overstimulated or overstressed). The Seroquel I still take doesn’t beat me into the pavement anymore.

REBT – Rational emotive behavior therapy - Wikipedia
Schematherapy – Schema therapy - Wikipedia
Learned Optimism – Learned optimism - Wikipedia
Standard CBT – http://www.beckinstitute.org/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy/About-CBT/252/

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Yes I can’t focus at all, and keep thinking bad thoughts about the past…etc. No concentration or focus at all.

Yes it sucks. Like I said, I’m not sure how many iq points we lose. A quick google search just said 10 points, but that’s still a lot. I believe there is a big difference between, say, an iq of 100 and 110 or 110 and 120. The video I watched mentioned performance ( I think), not iq ( I’m not sure). The video stated we can regain iq points by taking meds and doing cognitive training! We might be able to regain almost 1 SD of it.
It takes a lot of hard work and determination.

Check out dual n back training. I haven’t tried it but I’ve read that people claim it increases iq points. It seems challenging.

I believe exercise and diet helps too. I’ll admit I’m not the best at this.

I also take supplements like sarcosine.

In the next few years, there are meds coming out that will increase iq points by 10 or more for schizophrenics.

I’m quite hopeful.

I really believe I can go back to college someday.

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I couldn’t concentrate on ability. I felt internal energy. I felt like I had to keep moving. My concentration used to be god like. I used to be able to concentrate for hours. I remember being able to play video games non stop for ten hours or more. Same thing for school. I would take short breaks like walk or go to the bathroom but I always felt like I was obsessed and focused. Now I struge reading a book. I feel like I have no motivation sand no concentration.

Maybe that’s a good thing. Though I would be careful to not use your brain if you’re psychotic as I’ve read it ■■■■■ up your brain. I always liked my brain hurting because I felt like I was being challenged. I never had headaches from doing math. I always felt intense pleasure.

I remember being in college in the prodromal stage thinking I was getting dementia. I think that was a product of my black and white thinking. I was catastrophizing it.

I would appreciate if schiz admin would post those videos again. It was a psychiatrist talking about intellect and schizophrenia.