So I went to see my pdoc

Health and Recovery
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She put me on a higher dose of Abilify (15 mg) and told me that the memory loss is a result of emotional issues…being emotionally disturbed at times, I do not pay attention to what happens , tend to be ”in my head” and therefore forget what happened.

She told me that there is no clinical evidence of a correlation between Abilify and memory loss, and that the new dose should render me more active and will stop the weird thoughts and the lack of logic in my discourse that I experienced lately. I’ll see her in a monthțs time to see how all that went.

I asked for a recommendation regarding a cognitive-behavioural therapist and she said she will ask the local clinical psy for a reference.

I hope for the best.

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I had a memory loss when I was on seroquel and risperidone respectively. My brain just numbed down after two years of taking meds. I suspect Abilify is also a numbing med in terms of memory.

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I do also have memory problems. I have 20 mg Abilify and 300 mg Quetiapine.

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@green5 @Comatose , I believe that it’s a price we have to pay for being well. It doesnțt seem to me like the learning functions have been modified, only the long term memory of events and things spoken.

Given the fact that on other antiphychotis I lose my menses and I lactate a lot, Abilify is the only such drug that has the minimum side effects that I can take.

I’ll be waiting for something more adapt, maybe in a few years a new med will be found, that will not have these side effects. For now, Abilify is the only one I can take, so I will have to cope with the memory loss (which is more a part of the illness itself rather than a side effect).

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CBT helped me cope and work to get over my guilt and get back on track with my anger issues, my sneaky brained thinking and my paranoia.

I do hope you find a good one. It really did help me over come my past and gave me a coping tool for when I was feeling weak.

Good luck and I hope this gets easier for you very soon

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I researched a bit. Abilify is a partial agonist of D2, not an antagonist, so it does not block it as other meds do. It cannot have effects on long term memory, rather it helps you realise the memory issues created by the illness itself (because you are more self-aware on the med than off it). Technically, there is absolutely no possibility to lose memory as an effect of ABilify, only as a result of SZ.

My husband (who is my first person of trust when I do reality checks) tells me that actually I have a better memory on Abilify than off meds altogether, only now I realise it when I can’t do this and that because my grandeur delirium is off.

I’m reading Moonwalking with Enistein by Joshua Foer. Good read in terms of improving memory, I reccomend it.