Schizophrenia: Impact on Brain Function and Stress Factors - Psychiatry

Schizophrenia leads to impaired brain function, and it raises the question of whether stress is a contributing factor?

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I would like to ask the doctor two questions.
The first question is that I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia for over a year, and I feel that many functions of my brain have deteriorated.
Due to poor comprehension, I feel that my abilities in expression, understanding, thinking, logic, memory, reading, and so on have decreased.
I have severe distractions and poor attention (there may be other functions that have declined, but my comprehension is poor).
I have the same issues when writing, typing messages, and speaking.
Learning new things is particularly challenging; my new company requires me to write reports, and although I used to be able to write, now I have no idea how to do it.
Since my illness, my colleagues often say that my speech lacks focus, and my writing and typing are also unfocused and verbose.
I have been in treatment for two years, and I am unsure whether my brain function has declined due to schizophrenia or if it is a result of my delayed medical attention after being ill for over a year.
Will the decline in brain function improve, or can it only partially recover? (I estimate that I was ill for over a year because of my lack of insight; I started counting from the first time someone mentioned they didn’t understand what I was trying to express in a LINE message.)
The second question is whether schizophrenia can manifest without any stress or in a happy state.
However, I found online that the onset of schizophrenia may be related to stress.
My family has no history of schizophrenia, but just before my onset, I experienced an extremely stressful event that I had never encountered before.
I would like to know if the cause of my illness is likely related to this unprecedented stressful event.
I am 44 years old and have been a generally normal person.
Since my birth, I have faced both recurring and new stressors, but none caused me to become ill until June 2020.
In July 2020, I encountered a stressful event that I had never experienced before.
This stressor was a new regulation that created many unresolved or unmanageable problems.
Starting from July 1, 2020, I had to comply with this new regulation daily, but it was illogical and made previously legal and reasonable actions impossible.
However, failing to comply with the correct actions would lead to issues with integrity, income, agency rights, and work.
This situation created an unprecedented level of stress for me.
The new regulation, which was illogical, led to numerous harmful problems every day.
If I complied with the new regulation, the problems could not be resolved or improved.
These harmful issues would not disappear; they would only accumulate and double each day.
The increasing harmful problems expanded my stress daily, significantly impacting my integrity, income, and safety, and increasing life-threatening risks at work.
If I did not comply with the new regulation, I would face heavy fines and lose my agency rights, resulting in no job or income.
The new regulation started in July 2020, and due to the overwhelming stress, about two months later, on September 28, 2020, I received my first LINE message where someone said they did not understand what I was saying.
After that, it became common for people to say they did not understand my messages, that they lacked focus, were verbose, or were off-topic.
On August 28, 2020, I mentioned in a LINE message my fears and experiences of unexplained severe pain and trembling.
(The life-threatening aspect refers to the fact that the new regulation left me feeling overwhelmed.
If I did not arrive by a specified time, I would incur penalties.
Since I ride a motorcycle 20-30 times a day to meet these deadlines, I had to ride at the fastest speed of my life.
Because I often rode quickly, I had several near-miss accidents, but fortunately, I managed to stop in time.
I was genuinely frightened during those moments.
If someone else had collided with me, I might not have been able to react in time.
The new regulation affected me so significantly that it forced me to ride quickly.
I had previously ridden slowly and had never been in an accident, especially since my uncle died in a motorcycle accident.)

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Xiao Yu, 40~49 year old female. Ask Date: 2024/06/02