What causes brain damage: Psychosis or Antipsychotics?

Conclusions
Extended periods of relapse may have a negative effect on brain integrity in schizophrenia, suggesting the importance of implementing proactive measures that may prevent relapse and improve treatment adherence. By examining the relative balance of effects, that is, relapse duration versus antipsychotic treatment intensity, this study sheds light on a troublesome dilemma that clinicians face. Relapse prevention is important, but it should be sustained using the lowest possible medication dosages that will control symptoms.

Summary

A review of 56 studies of individuals with schizophrenia who had never been treated with antipsychotic medications indicates significant abnormalities in brain structure and function. Neurological and neuropsychological measures show the most consistent and largest group differences between those affected and normal controls. Measures of structural differences and cerebral metabolic function are significant but less impressive. Electrophysiological differences also are found, but most such studies are older and have methodological problems. The brain abnormalities implicate a variety of interrelated brain regions, primarily the medial temporal, prefrontal, thalamic, and basal ganglia areas. It is concluded that schizophrenia is a brain disease in the same sense that Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis are, and that the brain abnormalities in schizophrenia are inherent in the disease process and not medication-related. The challenge for the future is to use the new molecular techniques to study these brain areas and elevate our understanding of schizophrenia’s etiology to the next level.

visualizations wrote:untreated psychosis causes damage in temporal lobe. some random spots that have to do with visual or audio processing. schizophrenics have delayed reponse to audio for example, and some exectutive function. depending on if disorganized schizophrenic some NMDA or glutamate channels could be firing erratically.

antipsychotics on the other hand do damage mostly in the stratium and frontal cortex. supposively it is just 10% of gray matter, and some white matter. this is things like motor-movement, energy, personality.

the elarged vacouls based on "duration of untreated psychosis" and "antipsychotic" scans designates that the gray matter loss is due to the inhibition of growth peptides in the brain.

what someone can do to protect from gray matter loss is a variety of neuroprotectants available. i got off the antipsychotic, and i havent really been the same. but it is nothing "big". i would say it is due to the dysregulation of neurotransmitters during the day time. i still gain more speed later on in the day than in the morning.

at first i was completely zoned out, now i am still pretty zoned out. im on vegetable and fruit diet now it keeps my calm.

i can do calculations, but there is a sort of dissociation effect. which i read for some lasts about a year. its probably less damage than lets say a 1 year alchoholic. which also makes the brain smaller.


there are positive effects or some semi-positive effects. the white matter loss makes more tightly bound neurons once dendrites grow in place. there are also more binding sites through compensation for several other neurotransmitters. in a way my brain is more "lit", but also more "depressive".