Negative Symptoms - Your Stories And Experiences

Hello all,

I don't have schizophrenia myself but the person I love deeply has been sick for 3 months with what is most likely schizophrenia. His symptoms are predominately negative - he has gone from being a vivacious, extroverted and energetic person to a deeply withdrawn, apathetic, mute, etc. Pretty much most of the negative symptoms and I personally have been witness to only a couple of positive symptoms. It's not depression as there are a number of other factors that play into this diagnosis which I won't go into right now. He has been prescribed 1mg Risperidone, has been on this for 6 weeks and there has been little improvement. I think he probably needs a higher dose and some CBT or other therapy to supplement it. However, the psychiatrist said he was improving and to come back in 3 months. His parents and I think otherwise and are struggling to find hope/help/information on what to do.

My questions are thus-
- Are you someone who suffers from mostly negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
- What was it like for you in your head?
- Have you found anything that has helped?
- Have you been able to return to your "old self" in some way, to regain the enthusiasm, vivaciousness etc that you had beforehand?
- And this is a personal one as I am in love with this person but they have since rejected me since they got sick (as well as all of their friends). I am still holding on, knowing they are sick. I am wondering if you rejected people close to you, romantic or otherwise, and once you started to recover did your old feelings towards those people return?

I am keen to hear any experiences regarding this as I am struggling to find much help online/in books/on hotlines/ with my own doctors. I am devastated to see the person I love so much be so unwell and I am looking for any help/any stories.

Thanks,
Nan

Hi nan,
I'm sorry no-one else has answered your question, but I stumbled upon negative symptoms of schizophrenia and I understand that this question would be more similar to what I'm dealing with rather schizophrenia itself. A little bit about me, I'm a 21 year old Indian male in college(hard to Bellevue I should even be there), and my mother was schizophrenic and had episodes once every 6 months. My parents are separated and I live with my dad and younger brother. I first started developing the symptoms that your boyfriend has at the age of around 16. before that I was also energetic, and outgoing. Apathy, detachment from society, lack of emotional expression, loss of motivation to accomplish anything, numbed sense of thinking, empty or dead feeling in the brain, and thinking only in the present and not about the future. There's actually a few more symptoms and I'd gladly explain in pm. I knew that my moms diagnosis of schizophrenia was rubbing off on me but I had to make sure. I did research and apparently what I have at the moment and what your boyfriend might be dealing with is called Schizoid personality disorder. Its basically like you mentioned all the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, none of the positive. With good treatment, he will not suppress into schizophrenia, many of those affected by this disorder actually tend to develop schizophrenia later in life.
If you want to understand how it is for a person who's living with this disorder, I myself would say its like being stuck in a cage that society has put a padlock on. Its hard for a normal person to see how it is for a schizoid, and its hard for a schizoid to imagine what it is like to lead a normal life. If love to explain more in pm, or if you wanted to message me by other means, I also have Snapchat and kik.