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I don't have schizophrenia, but I have Bipolar 2 and ADHD. It's very interesting to see how the cognitive symptoms overlap. I recognized myself in pretty much all of this.
I also have the diagnoses of ADHD and Bipolar 2. I am increasingly concerned that many of the symptoms discussed could be interpreted for any if not all of these conditions. I know from my own experience poor clinical diagnosis can, through medication, exacerbate symptoms. I.e. I found SSRis explosive (not in a good way) to treatment for then diagnosed major clinical depression. The confusion and delusional thinking spoken of here were frighteningly real and pervasive and took time to combat. How is a "true" diagnosis possible when such overlap of symptoms, including changes over time, make definating judgements possible. Is it possible, and I do not wish to question expert guidance, that the multiplicity of diagnoses are nuanced facets of individuals presentations of the same core malady. DSM just categorise differently to promote individual chemical interventions. A great number of the symptoms posed here as definitive of schizophrenia may be accounted for by any or all other cognitive insults... I do not wish to appear dismissive. I am truely curious how a definitive diagnosis is arrived at. What is "normal" in a rapidly changing setting. How much interpretation of ill health is inevitable of a population experiencing such rapid change.
Watching your videos help me understand my husband’s illness . He was diagnosed with schizoffective disorder. Last year was difficult because he decided to get off of all of his medication and that wasn’t the first time. Now he’s back on his medication and is now stabilized. I can better understand his thought process after watching this video. Thank you so much!!
It explains so much about my youngests struggles at school and the thoughts or not going on in her head. Very often I'd ask just thinking something was going on and she would say she doesn't know seeming to be quite sad at the same time.
I always knew Anxiety and depression weren't enough to explain all my symptoms and problems. lots of my symptoms may match ASD but Schizophrenia is beginning to make some sense. Gonna have to see a psychiatrist as soon as I find one that isn't as bad as my last one.
I know this is a late comment, but schizophrenia and ASD have a lot of overlap. Almost all of the cognitive symptoms here exist in ASD, ADHD, and depression to name a few. That’s why cognitive symptoms aren’t part of the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Hope your evaluation went well!
I'm on the schizoaffective spectrum, but I mostly visit this channel to soothe myself-I find your voice very soothing and calming! Thank you for opening up, sharing and educating us all out here :)
Hey thx for your video! I'm 33 I've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and a "learning disability" trouble finding and keeping a job and I have everything you talk about going on .. I even heard voices .. it's incredibly exhausting lonely for me and truly hard to keep going so e days i never had anyone to talk to about it most people don't care to know
Daughter has all of these. One minute thoughts jump all over then the next, what I call zombie state. This zombie state she can sit for hours not really thinking about anything like she just zoned out. If you ask a question it takes a while to answer or have to repeat the question and still get an odd response. Memory? She may make a coffee then forget she made one and makes another, within minutes. I do notice a certain lack of emotion is responses or emotions do not match the typical reactions someone else usually would express.
I chuckled when you told the story of you not get out of the way. When my partner is having a bad day, he forgets to pour me water first at dinner (very important in our household...lol) and instead helps himself first. Sometimes small things give away that someone isn't doing well.
When I was severely depressed to the point of psychomotor retardation I experienced slow thinking. I was at university and had assignments due. It was very difficult
University can be very stressful, especially for young people who may be living away from home for the first time. The workload can be difficult to organize and the lurking possibility of poor grades causes anxiety. I know all of this first-hand.
The weakened cognition really hurts. I swear I'm bordering on plain stupid because I just can't think or focus like I used to. It sucks and has completely taken my ability to perform any meaningful task.
All I know is that I'm somehow slow in my thinking. I know I'm smart but it seems as though I'm a hundred miles away from my peers in the thought department. As far as expressing my thoughts, I turn to writing poetry (I've written poetry throughout my childhood), which works for me more often than not. Thank you, Lauren and sending you love and blessings. 💜
This video made me feel so much better about my mental illness. I always thought a lot of these symptoms were just me being stupid or dumb, knowing that it’s related to my mental illness helps me so much, thank you.
I haven't been able to explain my symptoms well enough for doctors to understand. Everything she says is me, and/or close family. What do I do with that?
@@Igorooooleynikov Yeah, it kind of makes me feel worse. When I am at work it, my thought process has certainly made a few customers look at me sideways or even laugh at me because they think I am just dumb.
I am exactly like you! I have been previously misdiagnosed as having Autism and ADHD. Because of my thoughts and lack of social cues. And really it was just cognitive issues from schizoaffective disorder all along!
Wow, can I ask you something? I have been diagnosed with autism and add as well. But I think it is schizoaffective disorder. How did you find a good health professional and how were they able to make a different diagnose. I am sorry for my English. I hope you understand my question.. I would really like to find a good specialist and go through some thorough testing.
If I don't take my antipsychotics I get extremely paranoid and delusional. I also suffer from depression and hypomania. I have been having hallucinations and delusions ever since I was a child. But no one really asked me about that.
@@karinw1398 I went to a different psychiatrist once I learned about schizoaffective disorder and told them I know I have it instead. I saw her for a few months before she agreed. She had to just learn more about me and my symptoms first. Also that taking antipsychotics helped.
My math teacher: alright guys, do this math problem and put your pencils down when you're done My classmates: *do the problem and put their pencils down* Me: _wait what are we learning again?_
I often get those kinds of moments, I get frustrated cuz remembering such simple things, even keeping track of conversations or the points in trying to make just dissapear
Lauren thank you for this video. It helps me to understand what my daughter, who is living with schizoaffective disorder, is going through. No one has explained this so clearly as you have. The work that you & Rob are doing to help people understand this disease is invaluable. So thank you again 🙏 ( also congrats on the baby news, just wonderful 😊)
This was very helpful to me. It's difficult to find information about cognitive symptoms surrounding schizophrenia it's usually only labeled as cognitive symptoms but doesn't go into great detail. So thank you I've been looking everywhere for this 🤗 since you always hear about the more common symptoms it's nice to learn about the other symptoms
All these symptoms sound just SO human and so logical when you're dealing with a disorder that messes up your brain and it seems like it goes into overload and starts lagging. Brains really do act like computers 😅😅
As a parent trying to understand the how my son's brain is functioning, this video is perhaps your best. Perhaps you can devote a video on each of the subjects and how you respond to each one. Are there work arounds?
My father has schizophrenia and your videos have allowed me to learn more about the way he thinks and functions. For the longest time, I was so mad at him. Sometimes I still find myself frustrated with him. But then I think about your experiences and they align so much with his and generally the way in which he functions in the world. Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm learning so much more as a daughter of someone with schizophrenia and as an educator in general.
My brother is schizophrenic and your videos help me better understand what hes going through. I have noticed alottt of these cognitive symptoms in him for a while now
Thank you for this channel. My partner was very recently diagnosed with Schizophrenia. He's 34 and it came as a complete surprise to myself and his family because up until the moment he'd had his first episode of psychosis everything was completely normal. Your channel has been very helpful to me in the last few days and has given me a lot of insight and more importantly: hope and a positive mindset. I know that there will be challenges along the way but It's comforting to know that I have a positive resource I can come to when needed, for myself and for him as well (he's still processing the diagnosis and I am trying to educate myself as much as possible so I can be helpful, supportive and positive in ways that will help him thrive and be happy). Thank you!
Now with schizophrenia I have trouble remembering things, forgetting what I was doing. Being a electrician I’ve forgotten most my trade, took me years to relearn.
But you did. And I find this as well. And I am far smarter and knowledgeable than I was when I was a good speaker, able to keep up and move along with the other salmon.
Yup I messed up.my whole life from this, wish I was dea, I'm dyslexic, learning disabilities, etc. I have had encelphitas, Neuro Lyme, crossed blood brain barrier, tourettes, I'm alone, near homelessness, too much to handle
I absolutely love all of your content, both as a human being & as a mental health tech [a nurse aide in a psychiatric hospital]. I use your content to try to better understand what people who have schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder are experiencing.
I really aligned with the symptoms discussed with this video from my life a few years back, I was thinking I may have Schizophrenia at that time. Then I can across Low Latent Inhibition and that changed my understanding of what I was going through. It was if I switched from and sharp well understood person and changed to a less then recognizable version of my former youthful self full of ideas and confidence. Then I started down this path of researching and realized my thoughts were too far forward and less balanced. Meaning my thinking was prone to worrying far ahead in the future regarding potential scenarios which were specifically dangerous or harmful based on my decision making. I guess what helped me was thinking about goals in the future and less about danger or errors or harm that may come my way like in a survival sense. Those types of negative thoughts are limited to just what can happen today but no so much tomorrow to stay grounded. Thanks for making this video, it reminded me of and brought to light some of the common pitfalls in my life.
I love your hair so much! It fits your perfectly shaped face. Had to share that 🤓 Thank you for being so open. 🙏Great video 👍🏻💐💖 Edit; This popped up in my recommended this morning 😎 grateful for it 🙏!
Teacher: "Hey that was exactly right what you just said, really good!" .. "Can you repeat what you just said =?" Me: No. Whatever that is , it has destroyed so much.
This video is treasure! Thank you for putting this out. Now i understand my mum better, why she doesn’t give way in public, why she has trouble sharing her feelings etc... You did great! Wishing you best of health for 2021! 💖💞
I just found this channel and is a surprise for me to find even if I lived with my sister for almost 30 years I never was aware of these syntoms of her schizoaffective disorder until now. Thanks a lot
With scattered thoughts, and extreme memory problems, I never finished high school. I knew something was wrong, but not knowing what. I've never had answers because it's hard to form thoughts into words for me. Only within the last year that I figured out that I can communicate better through text. Not sure why.
I can never express my thoughts properly they always come out the wrong way and offends someone or causes trouble and the more I try to express my thoughts better so those things don't happen the worse things get and the less sense my thoughts make. I thought that I was just dumb but it's nice to know that there's a reason why I'm like that. I love your channel because I learn something new about my illness with every video I watch. Thank you for all you do ❤️
I think my mom is schizophrenic. She hears voices, she has or had deep sadness, she gets obsessive like cleaning, she says nonsense or makes up stories about people she doesn't know as my friends or neighbors. She whispers thinking people can hear her, sometimes she is loud, she creates events, stories. She exaggerates the truth or changes it. She lies a lot. She speaks ill about everyone in the family even her grandchildren. She has visions, nightmares, she thinks she has apparitions, she thinks she saw ghosts, aliens, bigfoot, Kylo Ren is the alien king for her. She believes Mexicans will kidnap her someday, she wants to become the president of Peru. She lives a reclusive life and has no friends or couldn't make friends. She shows no emotions like empathy or love towards family. Also, is hard to have a conversation with her she changes the subject a lot or doesn't focus, she doesn't control herself is quite sad, she behaves like she is a teenager sometimes. She didn't let us hang out or be with friends when growing up, she would make up nonsense to keep us at home. It was so hard growing up with her.
I feel somettimes my brain is empty when I write sometimes I double up words or repeat things more then once. I. Have had symptoms as a teenager of not being able to follow along what people are saying...I didnt develop hearing seeing feeling smelling things till Adulthood when I had a nervous breakdown. I also have instances of speak ... other languages French and native yes weird. I only speak english but these instances were real.
Lauren thanks so much for the work you do. I have a number of dear friends with psychotic illness and your ability and talent, and the no doubt sometimes challenging work you do to put your experiences into words helps me understand aspects of their experience and hopefully be a better support to them. It’s helped me understand aspects of schizophrenia and symptoms better and also some of what they may experience in treatment and hospitalisation. Thank you. Also if you do see this congratulations on your baby and wishing you much joy and a healthy, happy, thriving life with your family.
You are such a well spoken schizophrenic. My 3 friends who developed it don’t make any sense anymore. Some have had it for 5 years now and it’s just all word salad. I honestly have no idea if they are medicated but I’m guessing they’re not. It’s heartbreaking.
It is said that if a doctor, or an engineer develops schizophrenia, their intelligence level drops to the average normal level of thinking... *A study was done on that
This is excellent! Now I can use schizophrenia as an excuse not to do my chores, not study, not work, not understand my professors, not read, not deal with stress! I can now be lazy and remain stupid and have a good, credible excuse that no one shall question. Thanks!
Thank you! This was much needed!! I want more info on cognitive symptoms as I struggle so much with them and there isn't a lot that's easy to understand.
Keep in mind… Almost all of the cognitive symptoms here exist in ASD, ADHD, and depression to name a few. That’s why cognitive symptoms aren’t part of the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. They are very hallmark of schizophrenia, but can’t differentiate between many disorders.
I’ve had some of these cognitive problems for a while. I thought it was just me. It would take me a few seconds for something someone would say to register with me, so I would be slow to respond. I felt self conscious about it. It’s good to know that was a symptom of my schizoaffective, and I’m not the only one who has experienced it.
I have schizophrenia sense I was 19 I am 22 now .. I am currently in a hospital in Maine called Arcadia in Bangor Maine they have tech time once a day at 2:00 pm every day love the videos from you guys if any one has questions leave me a reply!
I'd like to see strategies for dealing with poor executive function and avolition. Of all my symptoms, this is the most difficult to deal with. This may sound weird to many people, but I almost died recently due to dehydration. I've had to start using an alarm set at two hour intervals as a prompt to drink water. A daily planner does help for other aspects, but there's only so much one can write down.
In my case, after some years of being diagnosed with schizophrenia, and after having the positive symptons more controlled, i now struggle with the cognitive ones, especially on this right moment with the pandemics that seems to have worsened them a lot. I always lack focus to read, or watch a movie for example. When i start doing something, i soon get tired and want to finish the task the sooner possible. I don't have the patience to follow things till the end, like a movie or even when someone is talking to me and telling me a storie i usually think that's gonna last forever... you know. I lack patience. One thing i notice as well is when i'm walking on the streets and i look all the things happening, i simply feel that's too much information to deal with, and that makes me tired, this is why i don't like to drive for example. The same happens in a party or a bar, where there's a lot of people talking at the same time, that makes me crazy. Specially when i drink some beers (and I don't drink very often), my mind gets really slow and i can't remember silly things, and if someone talks to me i get confused or don't have a satisfactory answer, intelectual or emotional. I feel like that "loading" meme. It's really hard and causes me some embarrassment. Thanks for your work, Lauren! Congratulations for the baby!
Same, I have experience all these things too, but for some reason when I got off the meds I felt like my focus or concentration is returning to me and I can start reading books or playing games. Before I was in a state where my motivation and interests were being sucked out of me and I couldn't concentrate on anything except simple easy tasks that can be done in one second. Like you, I was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. I also suffered from slowness in thinking. I think that improves over time. Oh, and alcohol makes the medication more potent or sedative.
@@Jellostyle Yes, i understand. I hope that it could really improves later. It's really hard to live with this symptoms. I notice that they get better or worse depending on my general mood, if i am stressed, anxious or depressed it really gets worse. And i think it's related with a proper sleep, and i don't sleep well at all. Thanks!
@@antoniofabriciano7626 you have to exercise and you need to make sure your nutrition is good. I used to have the same problem and it was horrible. But once I started to take care of my nutrition and exercise seriously, I can say my cognition has gotten MILES better. I seriously wish you good luck on your journey, it’s a hard road going through this but I’m sure we’ll get better.
@@antoniofabriciano7626 another thing when you’re stress and anxious find a way to release it. You need to express your stress and anxiety... people do it through sports or you could learn how to draw and paint or even instruments. Whatever your medium is. You have to let it express, otherwise it expresses in your mind and then we’re back to square one.
@@alBaid yes, I agree with you. I used to work out at the gym, but then the pandemic came and I had to quit and I didn't start over again. It's very frustrating cause it's very hard to change my mind to incorporate a new habit on my daily routine. I really love arts and culture, and I write some nonsense to pass the time, but sometimes it's not enough. Thanks for you words! Wish you good luck!!!
I deal with schizophrenia, and all of the symptoms you describe in relation to cognitive functioning happen to me multiple times per moment. I have so many things that I want to do in life, but at times I feel like I just want to give up. People often look at me like I'm less intelligent, or they look at me like I am a person who is socially inadequate. I always have feelings that everyone is trying to hurt me, or they are trying to socially organize against me to destroy my life. I deal with so many people who want to take advantage of me everyday, and I haven't found a person in my life that is genuinely caring towards me other than my therapist. I am currently getting treatment through methods of DBT and EMDT. I have to make sure I don't stop taking my medications, or my whole life will fall apart. I try not to think about harming myself, but my medications keep me so low that I will not stop smoking cigarettes. If I do become happy about something the only thing that happens is that I fall right back down within ten minutes. A few times a year I feel somewhat tranquil and that usually helps, but I never feel safe in my own home. I feel like someone is always watching me; using a telepathic ability to psychologically manipulate me. Many people have tried to assault me; I have no one in my life that thinks I am a respectable character to them. Everyone I know has abandoned me, or they have psychologically manipulated me into being defenseless against their emotional and mental abuse patterns. People constantly expect me to have low expectations of myself, as if they are an expert in the field of what will make me happy. My potential is constantly wasted away by my symptoms, and I can only fear things are going to get worse as the disease progresses. Nevertheless I try to stay somewhat motivated towards my original goals, and try to make something out of my life before I day. I live through day to day feeling incredibly upset at the hypocrisy of rich entertainers and psychological criminals. I feel like I have no one to protect me. I don't know why I come across to people as so unintelligent, but I am currently going to college. I am working part-time at a job, while I try to be an academically gifted scholar. My goals in life include: getting a M.S. in Computer Science with a specialization in Cybersecurity, as well as a M.S. in Psychology focusing on Developmental Psychology or Forensic Psychology. I have always wanted to understand people with mental health problems, as well as criminal behavior in society. I want to develop software that will enable people to learn how their brain learns, and hopefully help people find a way to become the person they want to be. I want to do this, because I think that a lot of the reasons that people are not successful, are due to the fact that many people don't understand how their circumstances are different than a person who is mentally healthy. Maybe my work will one day help someone underprivileged, because of trauma or an unstable environment during childhood, grow to manage their problems with reasonable self-control; to set an example for what childhood intellectual potential is. I also believe that allowing people to understand the brains intellectual potential along with how to manage the individual's potential will stop people from discriminating to the point of ruining each other's lives, as well as arm the government with the potential to prevent these things from happening.
It was annoying in the group home when I couldn't even talk 10 minutes straight. Now I'm having issues with short term memory. It was never a strong suit for me, but it's impaired even more. This results in me losing things around the house or not knowing where I've laid things or not being able to come with the right memory of where I usually put them in the past. I am working on this by having a tray next to the door for my keys. I'm getting better at placing my essentials there. If you take a picture and show me a horse then five other animals, I won't know which came first. Now that sounds extreme, but it's a problem with appointments and dates. I do not understand time but in the present due to this.
Thanks for this video, Lauren! Christopher Bowie at Queen's University is doing some interesting research on cognitive remediation for people with schizophrenia, if you're interested. Nicotine seems to help with some of the cognitive symptoms, which is why so many people with schizophrenia smoke. I don't know if you've had experience with that at all.
Totally I used to talk talk talk when on nicotine. It was a short lived effect; however. Caffeine has the same moderate effect and is less damaging. Quitting smoking opened up the avenue of fitness and cycling both of which is 100% the genius for Executive Functioning. In the case of ADHD for example (which the majority of cognitive symptoms listed seem to parallel) working out hard for an hour a day has more of an effect on the amygdala (70% increase in (Executive Functioning) for 100% of the the people; whereas drugs only work at a 50% increase in function for 50% of the people. Holism, excersise, rest, and organic diets (selenium dependant) are not stressed as much as is absolutely necessary for mental health.
@@jacquelineleitch7050 I was searching through the comments to see if someone mentioned that the symptoms listed are also for someone with ADHD. I didn’t want to say it if it had already been said and you did 🙂
I have been struggling with my mental health journey for years now and I am a little scared that this will be my diagnosis if I could ever get consistent care. The nature of my insurance and then the pandemic have really been big hurdles. Now I am working again and that is complicating things.
This was really interesting. I've suspected for a couple of years that I have schizoid personality disorder. I experience most of these symptoms on a regular basis. For example, the difficulty in turning thoughts into words, zoning out, and the problem with seeing that something needs doing and carrying out a task to resolve it. I'm working with a psychiatrist to get a proper diagnosis, but it's taking a long time.
Just do not take antipsychotics, I was precribed them despite not experiencing any psychosis after a misdiagnosis. Antipsychotics cause cognitive decline, emotional flattening, difficulty finding words, poor working memory. I zone out which my old psych team conveniently called evidence of hallucination, what was in fact happening was derealisation. If the psychiatrist wrongly thinks you are schizophrenic or psychotic, they will make your life absolute hell. It is like being the scourge of society, I am still working to get my records amended.
I want to thank you, your channel is SUPER helpful! My mom has Schizophrenia but doesn't want to admit it, it helps because I'm still in with school(junior) and I am honestly lost with it all, but sometimes has some symptoms as you do such as Hallucinations, Delusions, Paranoia, sometimes social withdraw and for sure aggression! And It's hard trying to cope wit it since i have severe depression and anxiety, my grandma had schizophrenia and got medication for it, but she sadly passed, your videos are truly helpful so thank you!💖
I would probably add that top down thinking is often difficult for me. It is a frequent problem for me to partition a task (even a fairly familiar one) into its subtasks unless I write it down on paper or on my phone.
Lots of great info on this Channel..thanks you for helping us understand this better. I wonder if someone who doesn’t believe they have this but try meds and come to realization that they do..do they believe it forever or just while on meds? A family member has this situation and I’m so worried he will stop meds and we will have to live that struggle again.
I'm desperate to help a friend. She's been having hallucinations, audio, visual and sensory. Even taste, and awful feelings all over her body and inside her. Very negative voices calling her horrible names. Voices telling her they are going to drop her into depression and then it happens so severely and then saying they are going to bring her way up and then feelings of ecstasy. The thing is, she doesn't seem crazy at all. She's terrified yes, but not delusional. She's not catatonic, she's very aware of what's happening and is not convinced of what it is, rather she is researching everything she can to find out what may be causing it. She even finds it hard to talk about because she's aware of how crazy it sounds. I think what terrifies me the most is how normal she is otherwise, as in her demeanor, her speech, the way she analyzes whats happening. She came across some info about EMF poisoning when researching many different things and got an EMF detector and found that there are extremely toxic levels (according to the info she found) in the home she just moved into. What I have described here is only a fraction of what she has told me. Its absolutely terrifying to hear second hand,, i don't know how she's getting through it.Is it possible for someone to be schizophrenic without being delusional or catatonic or having multiple personalities?? I'm so confused and scared for her. She wants to seek help but waiting for state aided insurance to kick in. She is worried she may have brain cancer, that it could be EMF poisoning, that it could be her own mind going crazy, or some supernatural whatever. I've been having an incredible amount of anxiety just talking to her about it. If anyone has any input or knows of anything that may be causing this or knows anyone going through similar things please respond. She is 41, has been sober for 12 years, living with this for 2 years now and has just started talking about it because she's been so scared. She sees things like from the inside of people's tvs or screens looking back at them. She sees glitchy holographic screens in front of her showing her very disturbing things sometimes. Too much to type here. Please help.
Also the current state of affairs in mental healthcare in the U.S. this type of info shouldn't have to be sponsored by individuals but rather big groups with big money. If no celebrity is ever affected good luck getting any kind of money to make these videos a bigger success. Mental health has such a stigma yet at the same time a big section of the populace suffers from some disorder or another. Keep up the good work.
This video was excellent and is helping me to express to others how schizophrenia affects me and to show that i'm not just lazy, purposefully absent minded, or purposefully being ignorant. Because some things, like the not moving out of your husbands way when he is trying to dry his hands, I have done things like that and people think I'm doing it on purpose because to them it's so obvious. anyway, thank you.
