Hello everyone, I developed schizophrenia five years ago and it has devastated my life. The worst part is the cognitive issues/problems such as poor memory retention/recall and poor attention span. So my question is: what can I do to improve my overall cognition? Memory and attention span in particular. Thanks!
There are lots of fun games to play online, and downloadable to your computer, that will exercise your memory and focus, while entertaining.
Welcome! Sorry to here about your illness. I assume you have consulted your physician, if not you should he would have the best adivce. If you look up memory and attention improvement on google there are several sites. But again I urge you to consult your doctor. Good luck!
Eek! Sorry to hear that. If that's the worst part for you then your treatment / methods of dealing with the schizophrenia are successful. There are some dietary and life-style changes which will help significantly: * Don't drink alchohol. * Eat a low carb and very balanced diet. * Take a vitamin B-12 suppliment. * Get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. * Excercise for at least 6 hours per week (it can be split across multiple days in smaller chunks and the exercise doesn't have to be gym based... it can be outdoors... hiking, biking, etc.). * Get Sun on a regular basis (it's the best source of vitamin D). There are also prescription drugs that can help; however, it's something that you would have to ask your doctor about as it may be incompatible with existing medications and it also may worsen the symptoms of schizoprenia. The drugs are: * Phenserine, Aricept, Exelon for memory. They are typically used for Alzheimers patients. * Ritalin for attention. It is typically used for children with attention deficit disorders.
I have PTSD, major depression, and maybe ADD-inattentive, who knows? but at any rate I have the attention span of a gnat. Coping tricks: -brain annex notebook: write it all down, everything, or it will be forgotten. -waist tool bag: prevents setting things down at random during projects (goes in the bag instead) -Listening to music while working on something -meditation (improves overall focus)
You seem very unusual. I wonder if schizophrenia is a diagnositic error rather than a valid description of your problem. From the few individuals I have know & what I have read, schizophrenics do not recognize tht their viewpoint is abnormal. They often recognize deficiencies in memory or other intellectual skills, but seldom (if ever) recognize that they are neurotic or psycotic.
There may not be much you can do. Cognitive issues go hand in hand with schizophrenia. The best thing you can do is to not be too hard on yourself for it. Getting frustrated about it will only make the issue worse. Anger, depression, and anxiety also interfere with memory retention/recall. So try not to get mad at yourself for being forgetful. Just be patient with yourself and do your best! And, as everyone else said above, talk about this with your health care professional. They may be able to adjust your meds and find something that will help.
Indeed. I too question the validity of the OP's statements. All schizophrenics have very little insight or recognition of their illness. In fact, that is one of schizophrenia's hallmark signs, along with some other mental illnesses. Are you sure that you have schizophrenia? By which I mean, has a professional ever decided that for you? Or is it something that you came up with yourself, based on a self diagnosing process? A lot of so-called mentally ill people on sciforums are just losers looking for excuses for their failures in life, who have never even been seen by a professional. They aren't actually mentally ill. They just wish they were. source: I am a registered nurse and some of my background consisted of psychiatric nursing in a state mental hospital.
schizophrenia as a term just means "Multiple conditions" for the most part, however there are a lot of people that don't understand it for that terminology and will likely either be belittled if termed it themselves or fear it if it's someone else termed it. Schizophrenic's don't have to be paranoid. They don't have to be violent and they don't necessarily hear voices in their head telling them to do bad things. I mention this because there are so many misinformed people that will start panicking about someone that is diagnosed with schizophrenia being in the same room. In essence Doctors use the term schizophrenia much like how you use the word "Allergy", I mean anything can trigger an allergic reaction which means there are many types of allergy but even though there are so many different allergies, it's only termed "an Allergy". (Another less effective explaination is "sheep", is that one or many? Singular or Plural?) In Schizophrenia most memory problems are caused by the brain being overstimulated to the point where it's natural operation level is exceeded. This causes a biological version of a "buffer overflow", where the brain has a problem trying to distinguish what data is important and needs to be stored and causes the memory to be corrupted. The only true way to aid memory in this instance is to try and work out what cases the brain to be hyperactive and how to curb the hyperactivity. This can either be through the many different prescribed drugs that doctors might offer, through diet, sleep, exercise and even various forms of "meditation", I don't necessarily mean sitting there thinking of calm waters with your eyes shut, but more along the lines of finding something that seems to put your mind at ease... like painting landscape pictures with oils, crafting something out of wood or delving into some problem that needs a solution and uses your whole concentration. As for memorising things, that will require repetition and the usage of more than just one input. (For instance if someone want you to remember a time and a place, don't just listen to the words, think of the place, write it down and view the words in physical form, tie a knot a hanky etc. anything to generate other subconscious memories you can use to kickstart the main memories you are trying to remember.)
If you live in a country with UHC in the mental health care system see if you can get a referral to a social worker, they will be able to help you with coping straitgies for your issues. The clinical psychologist you are seeing maybe able use to help retain your cognitive function. I doubt anyone here has the study behind them to know if the straitgies designed to be used for people with mood disorders or dementia disorders will work with schizophrenia. Edit to add: an occupational therapist who works in this are could also help you as well
I highly suggest Hurleys logic book. Logic will help you focus very well if you take it seriously. Acting. Like Hollywood, but you can do it on your own. Why? Practicing emotions can better empower you to have control over your emotions. Repetition is the standard for memory. If you want to remember a list of groceries, then repeat or use the paper and pencil memory stick write it down. If you want to change you life then do that thing and dont stop. Soon with enough repetition, you'll be that change. When you are down, use your acting to to get you back up, doing will get you there.
Deep breaths in, and deep breaths out. You are in control of your mind. You have a powerful mind, own it.
That's an interesting way you described schizophrenia, but it always seems a lot of illnesses overlap each other. For example, if you have a hard time maintaining memory due to an overload of stimulation, but you're not depressed by it, would that fall under the category of ADD? Like a kid that keeps jumping around the classroom and forgetting that his teacher told him to sit down about 5 min ago? (Or some adult example, like a person that keeps looking in the fridge for food even though they already saw everything 10 minutes ago?) Or if the person suffers ADD and is depressed, would that be more along the lines of manic-depressive (or schizophrenic)? I feel like the way we categorize things is very poor, like a pool of 50 people could have something like fibro, and that's the reason for most of their problems, but 10 get classified as depressed and the body aches are blamed on depression, and others could be diagnosed with ADD and acute hypochondria.... All the same thing, but named differently and given different kinds of medication, some working, others not, and same with other illnesses. Anyway, what you said was very interesting, I had to register to respond, I've never fully understood what schizophrenia is either, there are just so many 'different symptoms' or people that suffer it have other related symptoms as well so people just jam it all together under one name.
(stemming from earlier post, although entirely unrelated) Build confidence, force confidence on yourself, shroud yourself with it in any form, nervous anger, hate, obsession or concentrated apathy and spread your word to anyone who will listen, build a huge "friend" base, smile ALL the time and never worry about self analysis or memory problems again? Maybe my own view on our disgusting race but it seems to be how a small British town operates. And to the nurse, If I hallucinate all the time but can self-analyze and use my mind as must; aside from various sociological brain farts, what could be wrong with me? (I have munched a few drugs in the past) ps. Don't follow my advice.
