how can schizophrenia affect the memory

Hello ericadkent,

First of all, not everyone with schizophrenia has memory problems.

I have what's called "the memory of an elephant" because I can remember things that happened ten or fifteen years ago, as if they happened yesterday.  I remember words from conversations, details, events that happened when I was 3 years old, what I was wearing at the time, etc.  I have a nearly photographic memory.

One thing: Risperdal causes short-term memory loss in many patients taking this drug for the relief of their schizophrenia symptoms.  The drug maker won't tell you this, but numerous people I know who took the drug, verified they lost their short-term memory permanently after taking Risperdal.

I don't know of any biological influence, related to schizophrenia, that would cause memory loss.  ECT treatments sometimes cause memory loss, but not for every person receiving ECT.

I've always had a superior memory, both before being diagnosed and after I got sick.  Often, memories will pop into my head out of the blue on any given day.

Hope this question helps.  You may want to contact a psychiatrist as well, say you're doing a report, and ask him or her if there are any biological influences.

Cheers,

Christina

In addition to what Christina said, I believe there can be a host of other issues that may occur with schizophrenia that may affect memory.  One is depression.  When I had depression, which often accompanies sz, it numbed me to events so that years later I had no memory of what had happened.  For example, I cannot remember how or when my ex-husband proposed to me and I have no memory of our marriage.  I have no memory of many events during my childhood and adolescence.  Then at age 38 I had 19 ECT sessions which definitely resulted in memory loss.  Sometimes medications too can affect memory, as Christina mentioned.  And that can be dose-dependent.  When I was taking 40mg of Zyprexa my memory was affected to a greater degree than when I was taking half that.

Carolyn