Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Sorry, a bit embarrassed by this. Deleted.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Without a doubt. That's ma excuse anyway.
Mainly anxiety in ma case.

If a person is constantly anxious, or constantly depressed, then all thoughts head that way.

Intelligence, goes oot the fukin windae!

That's ma thoughts anyway.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

You reckon it can be reversed? Or are we right royally screwed?

I think the Internet has frazzled my brain too.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

The thought of reversing it, never really occurred to me, until you mentioned it.

The internet has fuked ma brain tae, I knew more stuff when a wis fukin 12.

Reversing it, it's a long way back, if ye ask me.

Anyway, bugger it, there's Millions of people worse aff than us.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I'm building a Tardis

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Am coming wi ye. :d

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

A might steal that idea for a thread, unless someone else steals it first.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I went through a spell of depression and it definitely hampered my brain functioning.

As I recovered and went back to work I found that complex tasks that I used to hold in my head, I simply couldn't. I made mistakes, forgot things, it was a bit chaotic at first until I realised I wasn't functioning properly because I'd lost what I hadn't practiced for a while.

It comes back, but you have to change your habits and activities and put some requirement on your brain to bounce back, and it will.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

^ thanks for that Coffee. I'm going to try to get back into my old routine of practicing piano for a couple of hours a day. There is plenty of evidence that it keeps the brain more healthy (similar to learning a new language or any kind of study). It's sad how easily these things can slip away. Having had to be so disciplined at school, uni and work, I couldn't wait for the freedom, but ironically I don't think lack of routine has brought me more freedom, and my higher brain functioning is the victim!

But strangely I don't feel the constant battle with anxiety keeps the brain healthy and alert, but rather slowly wears it down.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I'm only just old enough to fit in this club but I do think I'm starting to feel the effects.

I used to always read about things and learn new stuff..now I get home and feel like a sodding misery I just end up being a vegetable watching some garbage on youtube/sleeping or doing the bare minimum I can get away with at work..I was never like this in my early 20s..

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I'm not sure if years of depression has reduced my intelligence or whether it's the effect of years of treatment with SSRIs but I definitely feel mentally slower now (age 30) than I did in my early twenties.

SSRIs have certainly negatively affected my body in other ways although Drs are loathe to own up to the damage they do.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

^I'm sure there's no permanent damage...? Call me naive but I'm convinced it's our duty to prove science and doctors wrong! There are always side effects from drugs, of course, but the brain is remarkably resilient. It just needs to be treated well by us and it can surely heal.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I personally don't think the depression has effected my intelligence, but I find some antidepressants make it slightly harder to think. Like mirtazepine calms my thoughts down a bit at higher doses.

I tend to over think things, which exacerbates depression and anxiety.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I'm convinced that I'm much stupider now than I was in my twenties. I don't think I could even pass my GCSES now if I took them again, much less my A Levels and my degree.
Sometimes I do feel as though my brain is trying to re-boot itself and fill in some of the gaps but there are a lot of things from the past which I can't actually remember.
For example, I genuinely don't have much recollection of the Noughties, especially the years 2006-2008, which made no impression on me whatsoever, even to the extent that I can't remember anything significant from the news. I'm often taken back when I realise that the 90's were 20 years ago, as my brain pretty much jumped from 1999 to the Tens.
(what are we calling this decade?).

PS. Yay- 2,000 posts!

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I think years of non help for my learning difficulties has affected my intelligence more than any depression.
When it comes to intelligence you only have to scratch a little below the surface to realise I'm quite unintelligent. There's a superficial veneer of intelligence but that's about it.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Not sure it's depression, but something has definitely slowed me down mentally. I find basic tasks a struggle sometimes, and have difficulty processing some things. For example, someone giving me instructions.

I currently volunteer in a primary school, and I'm surprised how great the kids are at processing information, remembering things, and working out tasks. It puts me to shame!

But with kids, maybe they process things better simply because they are younger? In a similar way to how kids are probably have more physical energy than older people?

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

It's definitely diverted whatever intelligence I actually had to start with. Pondering the impoderables, "What's the meaning of life?". 42 you ****ing dickhead, now stop this navel gazing bullshit and get on with life. But Nietzsche said... blah blah blah. **** I need to get laid.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Possibly. Supposedly depression shrinks part of the brain, the hippocampus. I get a fair bit of mental fog, I struggle to read the longer posts on the forum. The lack of socialising doesn't help either, I always feel a bit slow when I haven't spoken to anyone in ages then suddenly I have to form sentences, using actual words.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Yes I have a limited vocabulary and come across as a bit thick when trying to do small talk.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

It's definitely affected my ability to concentr

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

i'd agree with this comment,

I'm definitely a lot slower mentally than I was in the past,
my memory has almost gone and I'm genuinely stuck for words most of the time in group conversation,

I think there's a saying,. " use it or lose it".. often referring to your brain function,

I think if you're not getting much social stimulation like conversation, or being challenged much, then it's really easy to just become a bit of a vegetable,

I'm genuinely shocked by how much I've gone down-hill in the last 10 years or so, - I used to be really bright, thoughtful and quite inquisitive about life,
now I'm just kind of resorting to saying nothing and asking nothing in group or one-to-one conversations,

personally, I do feel that stress plays a big part in this, or rather, my over-reaction to stress when I'm almost permanently dreading or fearing something all the time, even alone at home.

I think the brain works properly when it's not feeling threatened all the time,
when we feel secure, supported and nourished then we tend to thrive.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

Mainly the substance abuse but I am sure the preoccupation with self centred thoughts contributed too. Looking forward to tapping in to my full potential over the next months ***9786;

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

There are many different layers of intelligence. So, I think for me a combination of alcohol addiction over the last few years and suffering abuse at boarding school severely has inhibited my ability to learn academically, as for over all intelligence maybe it's dwindled due to a lack of social interaction, verbal communication but I think I've become more emotionally intelligent through learning more about my past, the pain, trauma etc.

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I wouldn't say so, there's still clarity of thought on a morning, still a flexing of the mind when I read intelligent books or try learn something new

Re: Has years of depression affected your intelligence?
 

I'm sure it has. When I was 17 - just before I started to get the depression and realise I was "different" - I could pretty well recite King Lear verbatim. I had a great memory and that helped me do pretty well in A-levels. And I had some depth of thought, too. But as I soon as I got to uni, a fog entered my brain and at the same time, I got deeply depressed and socially anxious, hardly leaving my room at lot of the time. I still came out of my learning years with a Masters, but I paid a price for it and struggled somewhat. And my brain has never recovered from that time, I wonder what I might have achieved if my memory and clarity of thought were still there. And power of expression, I lost that too. People often assume I'm a bit thick because my spoken eloquence is very limited, and even more so when under pressure. Sucks!