And this is a bit of scientific publications.
Article in a serious scientific journal “Russian Journal 'Social and Clinical Psychiatry”
LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS STARTING WITH THEIR FIRST VISIT TO THE PSYCHONEUROLOGICAL DISPENSARY.
A. B. Shmukler, O. S. Bochkareva.
Moscow Sciense Institute of Psychiatry. 2012.
(PDF-format)
http://psychiatr.ru/files/magazines/2012_06_scp_120.pdf
(Article in Russian unfortunately, it does not necessarily read.
The English abstract and the conclusions is given in the end:)
…In the course of 2010, the researchers studied retrospectively the case histories of all the outpatients that initially had sought care in the Moscow Psychoneurological Dispensary Nr. 14, in the period 1980–1985, and who had been diagnosed as schizophrenics (according to the ICD-9). Total number of patients was 178. In 79.7% of patients, the frequency of repeated episodes (exacerbations) of the disease was 5 or less during the follow-up period; in 16.3% it reached 6 to 10, and only in 4% cases was 11 or more. More than 1/3 of patients had either single hospitalization during their lifetime or none at all. Infrequent admissions (2 to 5 times) were registered in 44%, and only 9% had been admitted to hospital 11 times or more. Only 41.6% of patients had the ‘disability degree’, i.e. formally recognized as unemployable, because of a mental disorder. Of the initial 178 persons who had sought help in the dispensary in 1980–1985, 89 were still under observation in 2010 (50.0%). Among those off the observation list, 52 (29.2%) had recovery or stable improvement, including 28 cases (16.1%) of a single psychotic episode.
The results of this investigation point to a variety of possible outcomes: along with severe and disabling variants, a significant part of patients show a rather positive prognosis after the manifestation of disease, i.e. it could be a single episode or a few episodes without noticeable social consequences and with good functioning in the community.
That is, Russian researchers have also come to the conclusion that sustained recovery or even full recovery may have a significant number of patients, and even the numbers that are there, are similar to those given in “Surviving Schizophrenia” by E.Fuller Torrey. For all of us there is hope, and this article - another confirmation.
(PS. If it’s possible, I would have asked to dear moderators to move this topic to “Recovery” - maybe I’ve begun it, where it shouldn’t be)
