50% of schizophrenics recover naturally??

[NoPoet]

Hi all,

My brother has schizophrenia and I am starting to research this horrible condition so that I can understand him and care for him. While I was looking at articles about upcoming cures and treatments, I found information gathered by the World Health Organisation, stating that schizophrenics who do not take antipsychotic medication (for example in third world countries where they don't have access to any) tend to recover naturally.

In a large study, they found that after 15 years, nearly half of schizophrenics living in 3rd world countries recovered without the use of special medication. The same study found that of those who were taking antipsychotic medication, 5% were symptom-free after 15 years. Their studies have proven that recovery rates in 3rd world countries are much, much higher than in developed countries.

I think our society conditions people to believe that medication is the only answer, and that we cannot recover from "diseases of the brain" like schizophrenia, depression and so forth. If the very suggestion that recovery from schizophrenia is possible fills you with disbelief or (worse) contempt, you have probably received this conditioning.

Recovering from anxiety and depression has been so difficult: I've fought, cried, raged and nearly given up. Yet I believed from the start that I could get better, and this has kept my course true through the worst days.

Maybe this is the real answer. Maybe people need to believe they can get better. After all, if a person believes relentlessly that they can get better, that they are getting better, what terror would anything hold for that person? Maybe if a schizophrenic was given enough help and encouragement to build themselves up, to trust themselves during the worst days of their illness and to never give up on themselves, schizophrenia and related illnesses would not inspire fear, rather they'd inspire the trust and companionship that is so difficult for schizophrenics to get?

Just a thought.

[Serenitie]

I enjoyed reading your post and I share a lot of the opinions that you express, PsychoPoet. I would go as far as to say that we are actually conditioned to be anxious whether it be by family, school, the media, work, religion, or within the workforce. At the same time we do not have the social or emotional support we once had within today's increasingly isolated, fragmented society.

Then we are conditioned to believe that medication is the only way to manage mental distress which suggests that we have no control over our recovery as this is in the interests of pharmaceutical companies and medical profession. The medical model of mental illness further stigmatises individuals in mental distress.

I do believe that medication has its place, however, it is vastly over prescribed as a 'quick fix' in the absence of family support, sufficient counselling and support services. People can then become psychologically (and chemically) dependent on medication and lose belief that they have any control over their recovery (learned helplessness).

I believe that social interaction and support, encouragement and empowerment and a sense of purpose and meaningful activity are much more effective methods to address the root causes and triggers of mental distress.

[Sparkle1984]

That's very interesting, PsychoPoet. Please can you provide some references/links to the research as I'd like to read more about it. :)

[NoPoet]

Hi, a link to the article, which is strangely (and annoyingly) highlighted in yellow for some reason: http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-global/sartorius-on-who

There is a bit of research and a few interesting blogs about these findings if you Google them.

Maybe it is a big scam by the medical companies, but there are three factors.

1) Some people are not safe to be in society, or on their own, without medication.

2) Not everyone recovers without meds, at least not within 15 years, although the recovery figure could be far higher with appropriate therapy and support.

3) GP doesn't stand for General Practitioner, as they say, but Golfing Partner. That's right, your doctor may have a better sucess rate with their holes-in-one (in the non-malpractice sense). Sorry to any genuine, people-centric doctors who are reading this, but many of those in your profession aren't fit to sell us knock-off DVDs from China, let alone try to shape the course of our future. Some GPs wouldn't know a global conspiracy if it beamed them up (from the golf course), gave them an anal probe, sent them back to earth (perhaps to the 11th hole), then the whole endeavour got classified Beyond Top Secret for fifty years and when it was finally released under freedom of information, half of the report was blacked out and the Ministry of Defence blamed a crap clerk. If that doesn't make much sense, it's because I stopped knowing what I was talking about after the third sentence of point 3.

Personally, I find listening to Muse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z87mc7N770) tends to clear up anxiety and self-doubt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhs0kYcsoM) :)

[hanshan]

Far be it for me to question the World Health Organisation, but there are some possible issues. The major one is the reliable transference between first and third world cultures of the definition of both (a) the specific health issue, and (b) a cure. That is to say, in the case of schizophrenia, one culture might consider a person to be schizophrenic when another doesn't. Conversely, one culture might consider one person to be cured, when another doesn't or doesn't believe the person to have been suffering from schizophrenia in the first place.

None of the above is meant in any way to invalidate the WHO findings.

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I've now read the article that's linked to above. It seems well-balanced and is written by a very authoritative former mental health researcher from WHO. It also addresses the kinds of cross-cultural issues that I outlined above. I couldn't see any mention of access to or use of anti-psychotic medication. The conclusion is actually very cautious:

"families in India were less critical of their mentally unwell members than family members in Denmark or the UK. This could provide part of the explanation of better outcome for persons living with their families but not for the many others. Various other reasons were examined but until now there is no simple explanation for the observed difference in outcome which very probably results from multiple biological and sociocultural factors and their different combinations. It is also possible that schizophrenia is not a single disease but a group of conditions which present with similar symptoms but have different genetic and environmental causes."

[NoPoet]

Hi, that's an excellent reply, I'm crying out for someone to actually challenge or question anything I say! :D

These findings have, of course, been questioned by other studies, but the one result I found showed that they agree the WHO have strong evidence and the West needs to think about how it treats schizophrenia.

You've got to bear in mind these things:

1. Mental illness is feared and stigmatised, so people know very few of the true facts.

2. Mental illness is usually used by the popular media to explain anyone who commits any crime, so people do not WANT to know the true facts - they can find all the "truth" they need on page 3 of the Sun, why do they need reality?

3. Mental illness is poorly understood by some so-called "experts", and is generally seen as something incurable and terrible which is difficult and costly to treat. Even experts do not BELIEVE they can be beaten or cured, which is IMO 99% of the problem.

4. In the West, we are driven by greed and divided by the media. We live lives of plenty but complain that we are poor; we let sweatshop workers die just so we can get the new iPhone, even though it's two years behind all the other smartphones. Basically we live our lives wrong and we always seem to be on the verge of anarchy - according to the media, at least.

5. In countries studied by the WHO, there is a very strong community spirit which has been lacking in modern Britain since WW2 and again in the Falklands War (and a second war if it happens - come on Cameron, get those Harriers back into service, get us that aircraft carrier with those F-35s and send it out there to show our flag.) People look after one another in tribes or family groups or larger communities, and people within these communities tend to have roles and responsibilities. A schizophrenic living in an African tribe cannot be doped up and paid benefits, they may be forced to overcome their condition because if they don't, the people who rely on them may die. Conversely, a schizophrenic here is pitied but often shut away like a criminal and has their connection to the world severed.

6. In spiritual communities a psychotic episode might be regarded as an assault by demonic forces, and the sufferer would be offered some kind of spiritual treatment like an exorcism. To a believer, such a thing could offer substantial reassurance (and a very powerful explanation for their illness), and they might believe they have repelled the demons, which would be explained by a remission of their illness. This is the power of positive thinking, by the way.

Your quote is extremely interesting and it makes me want to bust schizophrenia's balls all the more.

[Bill]

My oh has suffered from this for around 25 years since before I knew her and a very close relative to her committed suicide due to this illness.

It's a very misunderstood illness and only the 1% are often heard of on the News. Every case is different and some cases are more severe than others. Some have an episode and fully recover whilst others always suffer mildly long term. They can all have different traits so it's impossible to generalise but it is an illness which if left untreated can have tragic outcomes.

I feel after living with it for so long, having tried all I can to help, there is nothing any human being can actually do to cure her. Without medication she wouldn't even know me and this has been proved in the past. Like I say though, no case is identical.

One film that comes to mind is A Beautiful Mind. I could relate as a carer to what I have had to cope with.

There's alot more I could say about my experiences and what I've learnt but it's not easy on here which is why I've hesitated about replying.

One last thing I would say is if you're being accused of being someone and something you're not and no matter what you say or what documents you produce as proof, nothing you say or show registers, there is nothing you can do to get through so all you can do is escape or lock yourself away until their episode passes or they are treated. Anxiety and schizophrenia can be connected but they are totally different to each other. One says, what if...the other says it Really is.