How optimistic are you?

How do people on this website feel about the possibility of better treatment or maybe even a cure for psychotic symptoms that could drastically improve our lives?
Or, do you think that well have to live with this forever?

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Not bad not good in between

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not optimistic ĀÆ\(惄)/ĀÆ

Not at all, when it comes to a real cure for ā€˜schizophreniaā€™ as we know it. Iā€™m leaning more and more towards thinking of schizophrenia as an ill-defined concept, covering quite a few illnesses or syndromes as I read more about it. This is a conceptual issue that has its consequences in the search for a cure. If fairly large groups are being studied on the basis of such a concept, mixed results and a great variety of risk factors will be found. It gives the impression they all should work together, or something. But this is an illusion created by lumping together patients with different illnesses. There are trends towards more individualized treatment options though, that is my hope.

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Not optimistic .

Only a small time will we live with this, thatā€™s the truth.

But itā€™s not over eve then, ā– ā– ā– ā–  is going to get supernatural.

All disease will be healed.

Are you sure?..

Sorry to break the trend, but Iā€™m optimistic.

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Yes, quite sure, i promise.

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I am optimistic about the future of medicine and also about the possibilities for healing that exist inside all of us right now. :slight_smile:

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Iā€™m probably way too optimistic for my own goodā€¦

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Iā€™m only optimistic that I can recover with medications and treatment at the status quo. Iā€™m not hanging out for anything new.

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I know what you mean. I was too for a while after my last episode but itā€™s been a year and some months now and Iā€™m not getting any better.
I guess if they had better antipsychotics(ones that performed better with less Side effects). And cognitive meds, maybe it would be worth holding on for. They say that theyā€™re coming out but Iā€™m starting to lose faith.

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Iā€™m not sure how theyā€™re supposed to "cureā€™ it, when they canā€™t even define it.?.

There will never be a one-size-fits-all treatment for schizophrenia. Every person has another illness, Iā€™m sure about that. Thatā€™s why I keep an eye on gene editing research.

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Hereā€™s an email I received on the subject from a woman at the Psychosis Research Center

Thank you for your email asking about the potential for better treatment of psychosis. There is no question that we need more and better treatments for psychotic disorders. One of the reasons scientists believe that these disorders-and mental disorders in general-have been so difficult to treat is that any two individuals with the same diagnosis are likely to have a different set of causes for their illness. Many different genes are involved, and as a result, different affected pathways in the brain, and different reasons for vulnerability.

Clinical trials are testing medications now, some trials looking at new classes of medications and some repurposed medications used for other conditions. Some of these may offer incremental improvement either in the effectiveness in controlling psychosis or in reducing side effects for some people. Some of these trials are also aimed at treatments for problems with cognition which can accompany psychotic disorders but are not improved by antipsychotic medications. If you have not already done so, you can look into clinical studies underway to evaluate new treatments. The database www.ClinicalTrials.gov lists clinical studies including, but not limited to, those supported by the National Institutes of Health. ClincialTrials.gov can be searched by topic and location. The database has information on patient recruitment if participation in a research study would be of interest.

On the longer term, research on genetics and brain function will be the basis for a new generation of treatments aimed at the individual profiles of these disorders in each person affected, but that remains in the future. You may already be aware of voluntary groups that advocate for people and their families with mental disorders. These organizations track research and new treatments and may be an additional source of information and support. They include the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America, and the Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America.

While we canā€™t offer an exact time frame for revolutionary treatments, I hope this information may be of interest, and that research underway may offer your loved one options that may prove helpful.

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Science is advancing so fast that Iā€™m optimistic. Unfortunately, Iā€™ll be 53 next month, in bad health, so it wonā€™t happen in my lifetime.

Iā€™m not exactly optimistic when it comes to this subject but my doctor who is older than 53 did say to me that it WILL happen in ā€œourā€ lifetime.

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@MeghillaGorilla1

I hope so. Iā€™ve had two strokes in the last four years. My father died at age 55.

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