I started experiencing symptoms at 16 (after using high doses marijuana, and once amphetamine), and after amphetamine I went into full blown psychosis… yet 6 years went, I still do experience some symptoms, I am still on medications. Is it possible to fully recover? As you see, my SC is actually highly connected to street drugs, but even after stopping them I do experience symptoms.
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Yes, it is. About twenty percent of people with schizophrenia fully recover. I am not sure about your case if it is drug-induced. The issue is that studies have been done on people who fully recover. The problem is that, once these people make a full recovery, they are ‘lost to research’. In other words they move on with their lives and the studies lose the participants. Thus, the highest functioning people with this illness are ‘lost to science’. Therefore, science paints a bleak view of the illness, and bleaker yet of the prognosis. Don’t believe a word doctors say…but take your medications until a doctor supervises a complete withdrawal.
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Yes I believe so
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I like your enthusiasm. That type of thinking can be dangerous to those of us who are more helped by medication and are completely lost without support.
However I think recovery should be measured in context of symptoms and overall wellbeing; schizophrenia is usually diagnosed as a chronic condition that will never go away.
I was medication resistant for the better part of my teenage years. I honestly don’t regret times I wasn’t medicated because I feel like varying states of the mind are beneficial and did not take away from my evolution and growth as a person, others would try to excuse my behavior as missing a dose. I believed I could overcome it, and I learned a lot about spiritual energy. Now I am at the point where I can surrender to my higher power.
In their mind they think taking a pill every day magically erases our uncomfortable experiences and are discomforted by the notion that we can recover without needing their help. Or perhaps they have lost faith in us. But I do think lots of people get better, and its ok to reach out for support.
The problem is that the illness needs to be seen through a big picture holistic lense, not a black and white photograph. Thats what I think. I have been helped a lot through early intervention, i think, compared to my mom who was never medicated until her late late adult life. She has some health issues from cigarettes and blood sugar is worse than mine.
As painful as it is I think accepting the need for help can be crucial to finding a balance. If I could re-work my past, I would have been diagnosed and treated differently regardless of how early medication and treatment can be effective, the way it is used and weaponized is also dangerous…
people need to be treated humanly and by humanitarian organizations not corporate for profit institutions. People who have mental illnesses need a lot more than short-term medication interventions and blind treatments.
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Well, that is a good personal story, but one in five recovering completely is based on hard data. Plus, those who recover completely are lost to science because they move on with their lives, so it is hard to estimate their level of functioning.
Also, I agree, if you are spiritual and are treated holistically, then it may be more beneficial. But, the most crucial aspect of recovery, according to science, is resilience. It is the ability to take on adversity.
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I did not know that 1 in 5 people fully recover. Do you think that is based on the attitudes of the people around them? Like, if there was more awareness on the capacity for individuals to recover and evolve and change, then less stigma and oppression would leave us isolated and lost to system, for instance–my dad sees what the Mayor Adams is doing as “compassionate” and I tell him that he’s leaving the funding to police, and that its less about helping people and more about pulling a curtain over the real issues of homelessness and poverty, and criminalizing mental illness as an abuse of privilege and power.
My father and I may fundamentally disagree on how to solve these issues. But its women like me who are marginalized, end up voiceless or on the streets with nowhere to go because of this very systemic representation of people with SMI as unable to recovery, without the capacity for change and evolution, regardless of a moral obligation of society or any type of spiritual whims.
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It is hard to answer your question because I simply don’t know whether it is based on people’s attitudes around the afflicted individual. But, I would suppose that this is true. If environments are supportive, it is helpful. I wouldn’t be surprised that those who make a full recovery have good support systems. Millionaires also have children who have schizophrenia/SZA/Bipolar. Perhaps, it could be tested whether recovery is limited to those who have more supportive environments, both financially, and in terms of relationships. But, to answer your question, I personally agree with you.
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I mean support systems don’t have to have money or resources to validate someone’s belief system. It’s just that money is often a tool used to both silence and elevate certain types of issues. I think more resources coming in the form of advocacy and humanitarian leadership could be a game-changer in the future of this country and others.
I was donating my stimulus checks to those in third-world countries --people unable to access food or support during the beginning of the pandemic. I was advocating for leaders regardless of their political affiliation to donate and help the people in need in Palestine and pro-de-escalation of conflicts.
I have always wanted to be a humanitarian and human rights advocate so no matter what they do to try and deviate from progress I will do everything in my power to adapt and work against oppression even if it means opposing a false narrative or protesting against evil financial interests like the Jail-Tower he tried to build in China-Town. The best thing you can do when you feel powerless is to find a network of people who do validate your experiences and don’t give you baseless judgement calls.
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Recovery to me is doing the best you can as often as you can 
that is my definition of recovery. maybe if you do this for long enough then you never know, you may feel recovered even if you still need to take meds.
You got to realise that we, you or anybody is not perfect, we have to have realistic expectations about ourselves and what we are capable of.
Being content with ourselves is a good way to measure recovery as well. I guess if I am content with myself and my situation then maybe I am recovered in some way.
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I think it depends on the person’s definition of recovery. Can you get better? Yes, you can. Can all your positive symptoms go away and you can live without medication? I’m not too sure about that. Can a schizophrenics symptoms go completely away and that person can function fully without medication? Not too sure about that either. But some level of recovery is possible. I highly doubt anyone will function as well as they did pre-schizophrenia.
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20% is a huge number. Who and where are these mysterious recovered schizophrenics? It’s easy to say they moved on and aren’t counted. But that’s an old argument. With the hundreds of articles written about schizophrenics or the hundreds of studies done I why are none of these “fully recovered” schizophrenics coming forward to show they are fully recovered? There’s 2.8 million schizophrenics in the U.S. alone. 20% is 560,000 schizophrenics running around who are supposedly fully recovered. 560,000 people escaped being studied or coming forward to show recovery is possible? Seems a little far fetched to me. 1 in 5 seems like a high number and what definition of “recovered” are these people being classified with?
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I think the words “well managed” are better than “fully recovered”.
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I am in a recovery phase now. I’ve been in it before but I relapsed episodically. I doubt I can come off my meds though. Or I’d get ill again
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