Has anyone's intellect gotten worse?

[life-eternal]

Got the idea from a post I just read. I have suffered from major depression and anxiety for the last 12 years. I somehow managed to graduate from University with a good degree and have done well at my previous jobs, but I think my brain is actually done. Suicidal Ideation has completely taken over and I can hardly complete any task. Any time I have to do something at work I am not capable of doing it anymore. Even working with numbers which I used to love now has turned into a nightmare. I cannot follow tasks or remember anything from previous calls with clients and team members, my mind is completely shut down. I feel plain dumb and useless, but I don't care about it too much personally.

Has anyone experienced a decline in cognition due to depression or anxiety?

 

[Life_and_Death]

i think i did because of my dissociation. im not any stupider but i use to be the one helping other students WHILE the teacher was still teaching the lesson themselves, now i need to repeat it a couple times before what im learning sets in. it pisses me off (also my weed use, but my intelligence goes back up when im straight so, temporary stupid)

 

[JustAMatterOfTime]

Yes I am really slow and even slower than in the past I think some of the medications might be partly responsible but I don't really do much thinking anyway so probably not exercising my brain.

 

[LenkaX]

I've been taking lots of psych drugs for the past 15 years and now I have the feeling that my brain power diminishes. Probably the brain volume shrinks or idk.

 

[life-eternal]

i think i did because of my dissociation. im not any stupider but i use to be the one helping other students WHILE the teacher was still teaching the lesson themselves, now i need to repeat it a couple times before what im learning sets in. it pisses me off (also my weed use, but my intelligence goes back up when im straight so, temporary stupid)

weed did the same thing to me. I think it does it to most people haha

Yes I am really slow and even slower than in the past I think some of the medications might be partly responsible but I don't really do much thinking anyway so probably not exercising my brain.

Do you mind me asking what you are currently taking? I started a MAOI recently and I dunno if it's the medication or the alcohol abuse I did in the past. But I just cannot function anymore.

 

[Bootleg Astolfo]

I went from big smort to I literally can't think anymore, it's like any and all thought is done in the background and it kinda just appears there and i have to go with whatever it is.

 

[life-eternal]

I've been taking lots of psych drugs for the past 15 years and now I have the feeling that my brain power diminishes. Probably the brain volume shrinks or idk.

Every SSRI i've ever taken + my current medication has done the same thing to me

I went from big smort to I literally can't think anymore, it's like any and all thought is done in the background and it kinda just appears there and i have to go with whatever it is.

LITERALLY the same fucking thing for me. I cannot do any thinking it just is what it is at the moment, and I think people at my work are noticing that I can't do any tasks given to me.

 

[Carrotcake]

My cognitive abilities have definitely been on a steady decline.

 

[JustAMatterOfTime]

weed did the same thing to me. I think it does it to most people haha

Do you mind me asking what you are currently taking? I started a MAOI recently and I dunno if it's the medication or the alcohol abuse I did in the past. But I just cannot function anymore.

sure. Quetiapine / Sertralin / Carbamazepine / Pregabalin

 

[deleted]

I think that so much time with depression left me kind of retarded, sometimes I feel like a wall

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

Yep. i used to be smart and curious. Now i'm just too tired to think due to depression, weed and exhaustion from living. i use to miss using my brain, prefer it switched off now.

 

[WornOutLife]

I was really worried about this because I had become a NEET for almost 3 years and my life was really a mess. I didn't use my brain productively at all.
Fortunately, when I started studying again (japanese), I realized that my intelligence was still here.

 

[motel rooms]

Gettin' dumberer as we speak

 

[EdibleGasMask]

Yeah, possibly but I think that whatever happened made me think super repetitively. I'll repeat so many thoughts unintentionally I'll become manic. This never used to happen to me I could usually think my way around a frustration I had or like step away and think clearly but now im just incapable of thinking without becoming stuck in a loop anymore.

 

[Pen>Sword]

I was never smart to start with. I have been getting A's, but that's with hard work. My classmates have actual work and other responsibilities, while the only thing that I do is study. These people get B+ just for barely studying. I don't know how they do it, even though I've followed every study gurus from YouTube.

Things are getting worse ever since I've had suicidal ideation. I'm in nursing school, so yeah, not fun. My brain is already exhausted every time I wake up, thinking about life, study, my existence, potential problems, etc.

I'm just ready to die if grim reaper is here. I just hope he comes in early for me this year.

 

[Aeathelina]

Yea. Back in my old days (10-18) I loved school . Just sitting there and absorbing information like a sponge because it helped gave me something to be proud of and distracted me from my cruel reality. But then I graduated High School and fell into drinking as a form of coping and it all went downhill from there.
Now I can barely bring myself to get back in the saddle of even going to community college because of my financial and mental issues that make me easily overwhelmed

 

[esoterispeec]

I was really worried about this because I had become a NEET for almost 3 years and my life was really a mess. I didn't use my brain productively at all.
Fortunately, when I started studying again (japanese), I realized that my intelligence was still here.

I can't seem to escape neetdom, applied for so many jobs and been to interviews but I just come across as weird and awkward and I never they never hire me.

 

[Some1's_Wasted_Fetus]

I definitely feel the brain fog. Constantly feels like my neurons and synapses are fried after being short circuited. I feel so drained mentally that I can barely focus either

 

[Sprite_Geist]

I do not believe I had much in the first place.

 

[Forgotten]

Yes of course, my brain's capability is much slower than a decade ago. These days I have really severe difficulty in concentrating. Even writing posts here gets complicated quite often as I find pretty difficult to express myself properly with words these days.

 

[EraseRewind]

I really believe I have become less able to use my intellectual capacity, particularly since quitting drinking. Much second guessing takes up memory space.

 

[catch99]

I used to be really smart and good with numbers. Now, I guess from just being depressed and not using my brain much anymore I really struggle and find myself being stupid a lot. It's really frustrating trying to solve a problem now that I know would've been really easy a few years ago

 

[MindFrog]

Yeah, I'm sure my brain shrank from years of lying on my bed. Even my memory's deteriorating.. I would often lose things that I just hold on to. Writing reminder notes is just something I need to do at this point.

 

[LastFlowers]

Between the lack of stimulation, lack of oxygen, lack of sleep, isolation, sedentary lifestyle, and the absolute maddening amounts of stress/anxiety/distress due to my circumstances..
Hell YES, I have become more of an idiot.
Misery is not kind to the brain.
A certain amount of struggle can incite growth in an individual, perhaps make them a better person for it, but if that shit never quits and you are suffocating from your issues on the daily, then your entire person is going to start to rot, mind included.

Yeah, I'm sure my brain shrank from years of lying on my bed. Even my memory's deteriorating.. I would often lose things that I just hold on to. Writing reminder notes is just something I need to do at this point.

Same for me, my short term memory especially, has shot down to hell.

Yea. Back in my old days (10-18) I loved school . Just sitting there and absorbing information like a sponge because it helped gave me something to be proud of and distracted me from my cruel reality. But then I graduated High School and fell into drinking as a form of coping and it all went downhill from there.
Now I can barely bring myself to get back in the saddle of even going to community college because of my financial and mental issues that make me easily overwhelmed

I don't think I paid enough attention in class (was bored as well as preoccupied with being bullied, always had to reteach myself chapters right before a test, never slept, crazy procrastinator) but the pursuit of knowledge was always something that got me excited and I did do quite well in school.
Now I can't focus on anything and I know my future is worse than moot, so really what motivation do I have to go forth, learn, and succeed..the latter will never happen so long as I am stuck inside the flesh prison of which is the bane of my existence.
(I would also need a time machine at this point)
This mind inside this body is pure torture.
I am sorry I could not be born into the future generation of android skins.

 

[Passersby]

Hell yes! As time continues to span I feel more and more like a dumbass! This shit has been dumbing me down slowly for a long time. Like some others said, it's due to a combination of things really. Depression, anxiety, physicsl disability, being sedentary, and many more make it almost impossible to concentrate. My body and mind Do Not work in sync. My mind races and it even messes with my vision. Plus when you put the aging process on top of these things then it's a constant decline into nothing!

 

[bloomingdark]

I feel like I'm not longer able to think straight, never considered myself as intelligent but now I'm way dumber , it feels like constantly dissociated and processing everything in slow motion....

 

[LastFlowers]

I've been taking lots of psych drugs for the past 15 years and now I have the feeling that my brain power diminishes. Probably the brain volume shrinks or idk.

I've been on too many in the past too, all of them made me worse except for the ones that allowed me to sleep or were temporary anxiety reducers.
There is a large amount of evidence that psych meds are detrimental to the brain (and body) and that for some people it is like a slow, drawn out lobotomy (ECT being the quick version these days).
I said and did so many stupid things I would otherwise NEVER, when on psych meds. I could have walked out of the house naked and not realized it at one point, also my vision got shot to shit on one medication-to the point that the doctor just straight up gave me their spare pair of glasses, because I could not see close up any longer.

 

[filthyrottendirty]

Yes. This is a known phenomenon of depression it shrinks your brain.

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

So many that have a significant decline. Has anyone looked into neuroplasticity for improvement? There's good science and anecdotal evidence for it. But the arse is i'm too tired and dumb to use it for myself.

Sick of being sick, tired of being tired, bored of being bored, fucked with being fucked, done with being dumb. i'm happy being sad -manic street preachers

 

[Trisolaris]

I definitely think my cognition has been impacted by all my suffering.