What is the difference between side effects and negative symptoms?

DX'd - Other
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As the question says… is there a difference between the two.

Now symptoms like lack of social drive, apathy etc are not included when you search for side effects of the meds.

So how are negative symptoms and side effects different or do they fall under the same category?

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Idk but I’d love to hear what others have to say about it.

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It’s hard to differentiate between AP sedation and negative symptoms.

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Both psychosis and meds cause negative symptoms. Some say psychosis causes permanent brain damage. I believe so bcz I always had cognitive problems and negative symptoms following hearing voices at age 15 regardless of meds. But yes partial agonists like Abilify, Rexulti and Vraylar cause less negative symptoms other than those caused by psychosis.

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My psychiatrist told me that negatives are due to some parts of the brain having low dopamine while others having high dopamine.

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I think the doctors too don’t have a perfect answer to this.

So any answer we give is just a speculation.

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I think the difference is that negatives were reported long before the introduction of meds. Thorazine didn’t become available till the 1950’s so negs were reported before then. I’d suspect too that meds that help with the positive symptoms therefore the negs become more pronounced or you notice them more? I’m not sure there’s a direct link from meds to negatives although I’m no expert.

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I had the negatives before I took antipsychotics. I find Latuda and Wellbutrin help lower them but they don’t make them go away.

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That’s really an interesting information, thanks for that. My only question is like if I really I mean really want to beat the negatives can I do it and not bother about the fact that they are caused by my meds?

Because if they are caused by meds then there is no point in trying because we take the meds for life and the negatives will keep coming back.\

I hope you get my question.

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I think it partly depend on us fighting back at the negatives. its a question of willpower and clarity we have.

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