Can lithium, seroquel, or any psych med effect your thinking or brain capacity?

I'm curious and seriously questioning the effects of these psych meds. Yes I did have some delusional symptoms before that landed me in the hospital. But after stablizing and taking medication I find it hard to think critically now compared to when I was off my meds. I find it hard to articulate my thoughts and be creative which has effected my confidence level. Has anyone had any experience with this or know any information on psych meds and mood stabilizers effect on the brain short and long term?

They are ALL Chemicals .. so yes they will have an effect on every aspect of our thinking ..

Studies are showing long term use of AP's actual shrink the brain..

But if meds are needed meds are needed

I believe that I think as well as I used to, but meds have affected me in two critical areas. First, my memory is not nearly as good as it used to be. Second, my mood is flat and so is my personality when compared to my med-free, BP days. I am not as spontaneous, creative, interested or interesting, imaginative, or plain fun as I used to be. It is the price that must be paid for stability, although my wife doesn't think it is worth it. She wants the old me back.

Yeah the only thing that gets me ****ed up is the delusion that was scary however after experiencing it once I believe I can check it if it ever appeared again. I went 2 years med free. But I promised my mom as long as I am living with her I will take the meds. But I feel like they are making me worse cause I've never experienced SI or this low of confidence and self esteem and not being able to imagine or feel my brain think is slowly eating at me. I'm on 750 lithium and take seroquel for sleep as needed but I'm gonna try and sleep without it tonight. I really wanna try going without them again someday

Lithium made me stupid. It was torture, I could swear I felt my brain cells dying daily...

Took me two years to grow back my brain cells.

Depakote is not leaving any cognitive impairment.

You bring up a point that is near and dear to my heart. In your list, Seroquel is that med for me. It definitely affects my thinking, which is why I only use a tiny dose, PRN, and avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary for me to get to sleep. I wasn't on Lithium long enough to judge, because I can't tolerate it due to other side effects.
As others have said, the meds all have the ability to affect our thinking. That's what they do. The cognitive effects are side effects that we have to deal with one way or another. That could be switching a dose, stopping the med, or adding something else.
Personally, I'm an engineer by profession and don't have the luxury of giving up much gray matter. At present I tolerate my meds pretty well and seem to get by day to day.
My personality has definitely changed due to the use of medications, but I consider that the price I pay for having this disorder. The other thing to consider is that our perception of ourselves changes when we're on medication. When I complain about the side effects to my wife, she downplays the severity based on what she sees in me from an external perspective. She knows the difference in how I relate to the world, and prefers the medicated me to the unmedicated one. She's actually threatened to leave if I were to go off my meds entirely.
The topic of cognitive side effects is a tough one, with no easy answers. For most of us the meds are a lifeline and the better way to stay sane rather than ending up in the hospital again.

Lithium really helped me...BUT...I have terrible memory problems now, a hard time with word recall and expressing myself. It's been years that I've been off lithium but I must be permanently damaged.

Lithium effected me horribly as it seemed to keep me in a constant depression. My abilities are extremely effected when depressed or manic so I think the meds might actually be helping my brain to function better right now than they would without. I don't know for sure though. My personality is about the same as my stable personality.....I see no difference. When my cognition is compromised I am not myself and it's very distressing. The meds are suppose to keep me from going too far up or too far down and that does seem to be what is occurring which helps my cognition. Meds should make us better, not worse but I do realize we are all different and that some side effects must be accepted. (((Hugs)))

I'm going to talk to my pdoc I see my New T on the 11th but don't think she would help me in the med area. I feel like I am struggling way more then I should on these meds the constant depression and inability to think critically is really distressing me. I'm also afraid to try something new cause what if it makes me worse I'm going to ask my pdoc how do I taper off meds. But he thinks I'm good where I'm at. The part that kills me the most is that my mom doesn't understand me when I tell her how the meds are making me feel. She says I have to move out if I wanna stop taking my pills... But now I haven't been able to sleep if I don't take 50mg of seroquel so I'm just like wtf man..

I've noticed that I'm more forgetful now on Latuda. I'd rather have that than mind-numbing depression for days on end, though.

Why would any of us have the luxury of giving up gray matter? Because we're not as smart?

This is very interesting to me. I have been forgetful in the past, but not moment to moment, where I frequently forget what I was going to do next. This had been happening to me. The only difference in my med regime is Latuda. My Prozac is also a recent addition, but I have been at this relatively low dose or even much higher in the past with no side-effects.

I recently went off trileptal and Latuda and am only on Lamictal and low does seroquel at night. Since the med changes I notice my concentration is so much better. Memory still isn't great though

I so want to believe that brain function improves on lithium, like I've read.

However, I have to admit the combo of lithium (just under the therapeutic range), Seroquel (low dose), and gabapentin (moderate dose) leaves me a bit forgetful (probably the gabapentin), a little emotionally flat (probably the lithium), and somewhat unmotivated due to being a little tired (probably all three).

When I was first put on Lithium just over 3yrs ago I thought my brain function got worse. But over the longer term that hasn’t proven to be the case.
Last year I saw a neuropsychologist for 10 weeks. She did a lot of tests then tailored exercises specifically to address weaknesses. She then did more tests at the end of the 10 weeks.
I found it really reassuring going through the process and realising that my brain was no worse than anyone else’s.

Oh, how cool. And nice getting reassurance!

Yes they do.

It's hard to separate out the deterioration in critical thinking and ability to focus on a task into it's various causal factors. It is probably multifactorial and comes from
a. various psychiatric medications taken at high doses
b. a number of manic episodes where each one leads to further deterioration in the brain
c. increasing and enduring social isolation
d. aging
e. brain fog from chemotherapy
f. long lasting and deep depression and fatigue

I used to be a professional who used my brain to make a living. Now I can barely type these words.

—I think people are affected differently. I can’t remember the words I want when speaking right now on a higher dose of only 2 drugs and a third as needed, but I am very stressed, so I can’t tell. My guess is it’s stress. I know I won’t do well off meds.
If you need a cocktail then you need it, but I would make lifestyle changes before I would use more drugs. What triggers you, what stresses you? How can you make your life easier and-or more rewarding? I do best with a fulfilling routine.

Just to chime in again, yes they can and do affect cognitive function.

I think ‘b’ has led to more deterioration than the meds for me. I have soo many episodes. I can actually feel my cognitive skills improving the longer I’m episode free.
Having the 7 week run of stability that I had not long ago was great. My current episode has lasted at least 2wks and I’m starting to have trouble putting together sentences.

I worry about this all the time. I hate the fact that I have to take as many psych drugs as I do. But that's what's needed to keep me stable at this time in my life. Hopefully I won't be on this much medication forever but for now it is what it is.

Would rather have some degree of functionality.