Discussion Anybody else live with brain damage due to mental illness?

[Blackroom_57]

I have schizoaffective disorder and after years of this condition my brain is mush. Anyone else here with brain damage caused by mental illness? How did you deal with it? I have a sneaking suspicion that the antipsychotics I'm on might be making me worse.

 

[OutOfTheVoid]

i'll just say it, your suspicion is probably correct. antipsychotics cause reduction in brain matter over time with long-term use. in fact its possible that the reduction of brain matter seen in people with schizophrenia or bipolar is actually due to the medications they're given, not the condition itself. i would share a study i found on this but my phone is shit and im on low data, but i recommend researching it yourself.

that said, i have dx'd bipolar with psychosis myself, but i think i more likely am schizoaffective. idk if i have brain damage, it feels like i do, but ive also fucked up my brain with drug use so i cant say what the cause is for sure

 

[Hollowman]

Yeah my brain's damaged from concussions, to many psych drugs and illegal drugs. I don't deal with it that well, I work but I still need financial support that my mom provides. I'm middle aged it's pretty sad.

 

[cogmachine]

medication has a special way of frying your brain and making you feel like a zombie. not to mention it takes a while to get semi normal after you get off of them. i feel whatever mental problem i have made me very forgetful, as for the other possible symptoms i'm not sure if they're caused by brain damage or something else.

 

[rcs]

I was diagnosed with comorbid PTSD and MDD (after abuse & SA plus just a terrible home environment) and I experienced a noticeable decline in my cognitive abilities. I couldn't remember anything, had difficulty understanding new concepts, and couldn't bring myself to do anything really. It's a little better now, but I'm still far from normal. People didn't really take me seriously when I explained my symptoms to them.. I guess because they couldn't really see what I was going through? It's not like an obvious physical disability, so I guess they thought I was crazy. Therapy helped a lot, as well as Wellbutrin (for me).

 

[CTB Dream]

Befr injury damage ya have damage depress anhedo ptsd etcstill no sm lvl this now awful injury damage lose slef no able do any

 

[anguila_anguila]

i'll just say it, your suspicion is probably correct. antipsychotics cause reduction in brain matter over time with long-term use. in fact its possible that the reduction of brain matter seen in people with schizophrenia or bipolar is actually due to the medications they're given, not the condition itself. i would share a study i found on this but my phone is shit and im on low data, but i recommend researching it yourself.

that said, i have dx'd bipolar with psychosis myself, but i think i more likely am schizoaffective. idk if i have brain damage, it feels like i do, but ive also fucked up my brain with drug use so i cant say what the cause is for sure

If you can dig out those studies I'd be really interested to see them.

There is evidence mounting that many drugs we thought were ok might be doing more harm than good.

For example, amongst the alzheimers' research there is a lot of evidence that some drugs (that are also acetylcholine receptor antagonists) cause damage that leads to Alzheimers https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763421001949

Now, I'm careful taking any drug which might affect my already unstable and damaged brain.