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 Severe Mental Illness I (Lecture + Discussion)
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radiant
Starting Member

17 Posts
Gratitude: 1

Posted - 03/29/2008 :  10:33:03  Show Profile
Dr. Long,

I loved the slide show! I want my family to see it. Next time I doubt my prognosis I'm gonna watch it again myself!

I've read in a number of sources that people w/mental illness all genres have higher IQs than the rest of the population. The studies always site G. Cantor, Beethoven Churchill, C. Dickens, Baudelaire, Abbie Hoffman, and a host of others.

Do you agree w/ the high IQ/mental theory? Actually my dad, also BP, off the charts IQ, told me his PDr. explained it this simple way: the higher the IQ, or in general, the higher the level in which the brain functions the more likelihood of BP for sure and the others he didn't mention.

I could care less. Intellegence is perceived through a narrow lense only w/in the spectrum of linguistic and verbal abilities. Someday we'll get there, but anyway: What's your spin onthe theory?

Oh! Let's not forget, ol' Britney Spears. No offense, but she kinda throws a kink into the thought.

Thanks again for the slide show. All good!!
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Administrator
Administrator

15007 Posts
Gratitude: 3353
Very caringVery wiseVery funnyVery honestI agree

Posted - 03/29/2008 :  13:35:23  Show Profile  Visit Administrator's Homepage
Good Question Radiant,

Sadly, research is showing that severe mental illness is associated with significant cognitive impairments. Schizophrenia is associated with an approximately 15% decrease in IQ score. The most common cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are: impaired attention, poor memory, and poor "executive functioning" (i.e., decision-making, problem-solving, planning).

In bipolar I disorder the deficit is more subtle. The standard IQ tests don't measure decision-making that well. Thus, an individual with significant impairment of his/her decision-making ability may score "average" on an IQ test.

This is exactly what we see in bipolar I disorder. Namely, that these individuals score average on IQ tests, but on other psychological tests have significant problems with their decision-making (or "executive functioning").

A fascinating part of this research is the finding that, when excited, even recovered bipolar I disorder patients show an increase in oppositional, impulsive, and disinhibited decision-making (when compared to "normal" controls).

I have summarized this research at:

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-md02_severe.html#cognitive

Phil Long M.D.
Administrator

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The Lone Viking (inactive)
Full Member (100+ posts)

173 Posts
Gratitude: 38

Posted - 04/23/2008 :  13:35:26  Show Profile
I took a series of psychological tests (including intelligence tests) at a local community hospital (Nassau University Medical Center, on Long Island, NY) in 2001 and they had said my results on the intelligence tests were that I ranked "high-superior" or "superior" and not "average". Interestingly enough, their diagnosis was schizoaffective, because it was believed there was a mood disorder component at the time. As I have learned (with my doctors) by looking at all my current and past episodes, however, the 'mood' component is not a critical component of the disorder. In fact, paranoid psychosis/schizophrenia would seem to fit as well if not better. It was back in 1998 (when I was officially labelled "Bipolar" still, initially) that one smart doctor in south florida suggested based on what he had seen that Bipolar didn't fit at all, but instead something called "Brief Psychotic Episodes" because there were only two episodes at the time, and psychosis was the primary issue both times (and all times since, come to think of it), and outside of those brief episodes, I was relatively "normal" even without meds.

No doctor has seriously considered "Brief Psychotic Episodes" to be a real diagnosis that I've talked to since then, and I'm not even sure it's in the most recent copy of the DSM.

Rob

quote:
Originally posted by Administrator

Good Question Radiant,

Sadly, research is showing that severe mental illness is associated with significant cognitive impairments. Schizophrenia is associated with an approximately 15% decrease in IQ score. The most common cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are: impaired attention, poor memory, and poor "executive functioning" (i.e., decision-making, problem-solving, planning).

In bipolar I disorder the deficit is more subtle. The standard IQ tests don't measure decision-making that well. Thus, an individual with significant impairment of his/her decision-making ability may score "average" on an IQ test.

This is exactly what we see in bipolar I disorder. Namely, that these individuals score average on IQ tests, but on other psychological tests have significant problems with their decision-making (or "executive functioning").

A fascinating part of this research is the finding that, when excited, even recovered bipolar I disorder patients show an increase in oppositional, impulsive, and disinhibited decision-making (when compared to "normal" controls).

I have summarized this research at:

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-md02_severe.html#cognitive

Phil Long M.D.
Administrator



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