High IQ May Protect Against Schizophrenia

That is the title of this article I am writing about. "In people with a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia, having high intelligence may help protect them from developing the severe mental disorder, according to a new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Lund University in Sweden.  In fact, people with a lower IQ (intelligence quotient) than their siblings had the greatest risk for developing schizophrenia.  The research appears to contradict the popular belief that schizophrenia and brilliance are typically linked.  'If you’re really smart, your genes for schizophrenia don’t have much of a chance of acting,' said first author Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics in the Department of Psychiatry, VCU School of Medicine." I do not know if I follow this belief.  John Nash is not the only one that has a high IQ also Ellen Saks.  If you follow Colorado and they do find James Holmes not guilty by reason of insanity there will be another.
The article goes on to say: "'What really predicted risk for schizophrenia is how much you deviate from the predicted IQ that we get from your relatives. If you’re quite a bit lower, that carries a high risk for schizophrenia. Not achieving the IQ that you should have based on your genetic constitution and family background seems to most strongly predispose for schizophrenia.'  Just like those without the disease, people with schizophrenia vary widely in their intelligence levels. Kendler added that low IQ is one of many risk factors for schizophrenia.  For the study, researchers assessed the IQs of more than 1.2 million Swedish males (ages 18-to-20) born between 1951 and 1975. Schizophrenia-related hospitalization was tracked for 24 years until 2010. Subjects with a lower IQ than their siblings were at the greatest risk for developing schizophrenia." If you have a lower IQ than your brothers and sisters than you have a greater chance of developing schizophrenia.
The article ends: "Kendler noted that environmental factors that may lower IQ, such as intrauterine experience, childhood trauma, or early drug use, could contribute to the increased risk.
Having a high IQ, however, doesn’t completely eliminate the risk for schizophrenia. In fact, there are several well-known, brilliant and creative people who have suffered from schizophrenia, including math prodigy John Nash, whose story was made famous in the film “A Beautiful Mind.”
'The question is, might we see some upward bump at that high level of intelligence where really brilliant people have increased risk for the disease and we show no such trend,' Kendler said.
Schizophrenia is one of the most severe and rarest of the mental health disorders, occurring in about one in 100 people. Symptoms of the disease include hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, cognitive impairment, social withdrawal, self-neglect, and loss of motivation and initiative." I never lost my motivation or I would not have been able to complete college. I lost some of my smarts though since I was in high school that is why I had a harder time in college. I believe that no matter what type of IQ you have it is still a bad disease and hard to tell when you are slipping into psychosis.

Emotional Intelligence

Self confidence, sensitivity, self awareness, self control, empathy, optimism and social skills, these are all a part of the qualities we desire in ourselves and all are a part of our Emotional Intelligence.  What is Emotional Intelligence and what has it to do with our Mental Health.  Emotional Intelligence in short is the ability we have in perceiving emotions in ourselves as well as in others.  Its controlling emotions and coping with emotional situations and many people fail to manage emotions with success as we may be closed to our own emotional attitudes or we may not be able to control our own emotional selves as in acting foolishly while we are under pressure.

In the mental health field, many consumers have lost touch with their own awareness and their ability to control their emotions.  With the many people who are diagnosed especially with schizophrenia, manic depression and depression, they find it hard to control themselves, yet with treatment, these people find it remarkable that they have learned not only self control, yet have build up their confidence and self-esteem as well.  Being a mental health consumer, with a diagnosis, I have to understand my emotions can lead me astray.  I have to learn to understand another person’s emotions, facial gestures, voice and posture.  I must know when to think and what emotions are particular to thought and how to control my negative emotions, such as anger or being despondent.

 Emotional Intelligence is different than cognitive intelligence, which is the ability to reason, read, write and have logic.  You are not using the emotional parts of your brain to solve equations, to build structures or dial a phone number; the thought that emotional intelligence is a structure, which links the emotional abilities with other capabilities that includes our mental thinking abilities.

Howard Gardner in 1999 stated that “there are multiple intelligences in addition to abstract reasoning, such as musical and kinesthetic intelligence.”  He also stated there are two types of abilities that resemble emotional intelligence, (1) interpersonal intelligence (understanding the feelings and intentions of others) and (2) intrapersonal intelligence (your awareness and discrimination of your own feelings).”  In understanding my positive emotions, I would feel good about myself not only in this present time yet also I would have positive hope for the future.  The reality of the change of ideals, self-esteem, awareness, and empathy becomes such with the control of emotions and the bearing of  knowledge that I am working with such as I struggle to migrate from the negative approach to one which is more positive.

Written by Donald S.