Innerzone, thanks for the detailed post!

I totally get the lateral-thinking, just do it, approach. In countries where they walk/drive at the wrong side of the road I do exactly the same: don't think about, just do it. When I start to think about it I am a real danger to myself and others.

It does sound rather "mixed-brained" to me.

Do any of you also struggle at times to remember passwords or PINs, while you are capable of entering them, if you "just do it"?

If so, the following may tell us why.

It is very long, but years in the making (including some other similar posts). I would greatly appreciate your comments and/or suggestions.

It is possibly due to hindered cell "migration" and (or due to) cell death and/or decreased myelination and cell interconnectivity. That would be primarily in some parts of the prefrontal cortex (the very advanced dorsolateral and ventromedial parts), but more interestingly the cortical anterior cingulate cortex and the subcortical basal ganglia (possibly mostly the striatum) (and some, possibly quite majorly important, interaction with the cerebellum. All these areas are very much functionally related to SZ and BP.

So far the 101 (well actually quite specific, of course) in neuroscience.

The takeaway from this is that all these areas are more or less involved in the arbitrarily sequential operations/functions in the brain. Any (rote) learning of facts, use of language, speech, writing, walking, hair- and teeth-brushing and all other internalised movements and associations go through and use these brain areas.

Now, my hypothesis is that the toxicity for/of the brain that is associated with SZ and, to a lesser extent BP (mixed group and/or just less severity, less severity being unlikely given the enormous, enduring excitotoxicity of mania?), causes the brain to prioritise or focus on (not actively!), just a small set of "tricks"/habits, which by necessity are also much reduced/abstract (so that habits that are similar in function/meaning can use the same brain "instruments", memory storage space, leading to a smaller set of "basic brain data" to store). A good analogy would be evolution (by natural selection).

That would explain why and how people with dyslexia or dyscalculia or whatever you might call it (I use the umbrella term dysreductia, which includes SZ and BP prodromes and consequent syndromes), have difficulty with learning arbitrary sequences, but once they have learned one, they are both more capable of "transferring" that knowledge to be used for similar sequences, but they are also much better in them, since there is less "clutter", there are fewer perceived inconsistencies: action is taken with just enough reduced perception so as to excel. It also requires less energy: it is more energy efficient.

Mania makes these processes far more pronounced (just because of cell damage as well as the effectively shutting down of some, mostly (frontal-)cortical, brain areas). Things blend together.

This all looks perfect, allowing for quick reactions, but it has the ingredients for disaster. Your reactions become less accurate.

Indeed, when fear or anxiety sets in (the end of the "just doing it"), all brain areas switch on and much of what is very much damaged and left unrepaired takes over: call it the very rational checks and balances system. But since much of it is damaged great mistakes are made: things are lost or (abstract) emotions are rationalised wrongly. I call this "secondary psychosis initiation": you (auto)rationalise using a, or a few, wrong assumption(s).

Most of the problem is not just damage (it a necessary prerequisite even if only mild: common), but the speed at which you rationalise. Call it "hyper-rationalisation". It may mess up not just thought structures, including the relation to the self, but all kinds of perception: auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, proprioceptive, etc.

A (hopefully) good analogy is taking an extended lunch break, then rushing to finish your work: more mistakes are probably made.

Fear for not finishing your work in time first builds confidence ("I can do this without thinking!"). What you have to do also becomes more important ("no time for chitchat!"). All you can talk or think about is work and you do it very fast.

Thinking to much about your habits will lead to anxiety ("there seems to be no rational underpinning" (they have been lost due to being largely inconsequential) "of what I do, is it actually correct.") and this will actually cause some kind of mini-psychosis: you make mistakes.

Just like one wrong assumption at work can make all the difference ("do I have to send these requests for a quote to 221B or 221A Baker Street?"), you might lose touch with reality.

SZ psychosis initiation might very well just be a very short mania cut short by fear. In case of SZ, this may primarily be caused, it being the feature that most distinguishes SZ from BP(-I) and SZA(/BP), by environmental factors: there is a greater probability, greater negative consequences and greater consequent fear of failure. There is also a greater need to continue after this "initiation", not allowing for "recharging, rewiring and rational backtracking and resolution" depression/recuperation, leaving the delusional thinking intact, leading to a (relatively) long period of psychosis. It is like you keep stumbling (anxiety, confidence build-up and overconfident and too fast rationalisation) and you don't know why.

Clinically, the only things to do are reducing anxiety ("pre-rationalising" and/or anxiolytic meds), finding the cause of brain toxicity and reducing or eliminating that toxicity (neuroprotective meds and/or supplements and excitement and stress reduction).

The first and last of these is generally already done in psycho- and pharmacotherapy (mostly with the exception of the necessary supplements). The second of these is still mostly lacking, but especially due to the heterogeneous character of BP and (even) SZ, very important: there might (even) be a cure.

All this is very tentative, but there is very much scientific literature, as well as anecdotal evidence, to support each part of it.

Edit:
As I believe in a continuum from the psychotic spectrum, through normalcy, to the autism spectrum, assuming we all experience some form of mania, the problems experienced by those with ASD might best/also be described as transnormal, ultra-rapid mania.

As a side note: some other (arguably) supporting evidence is the relatively low incidence of cancer and the high incidence of cardiovascular problems: rapid cell death may lower the chances of cancer cell proliferation and heighten the chance of damage to the heart and vascular cells.