What do you guys think?
On the one hand we have nasal sprays which can decrease side effects by 80-odd percent, and two new medications with novel mechanisms of actions may come to exist in a couple of years. Could this usher in a new age of medications based upon these approaches?
Can schizophrenia be something so benign in ten years?
I think so.
According to my calculations 
, no. lol.
I really don’t think its a revolution. Mild improvements IMO. But slow progress is better than no progress.
I disagree. These new approaches, if they are valid, can perhaps lead to 10-15 medications coming out which are better than these with the same approaches (but in about 10 years).
If they treat the negatives and cognitives too then it is a wipeout of schizophrenia!
Stay positive. At least I am.
I admire your optimism. I will leave it with my original comment though.
You have too much skepticism. The medications clearly work in your case haha.
What progress has there been? New medications with less side effects. Great.
But still little progress and effort to understand negative symptoms.
The course of SZ seems the same just better treatment for positive symptoms.
I agree. But, my thinking is that, once a mechanism of action for negatives/positives comes out, the same capitalism that we wholeheartedly berate, will produce 10-15 medications in not much time.
The interesting thing is that when the results for KarXT were announced, the stock for the associated company jumped 70 percent in a day. Now, that will get some interest going for other companies which will be more inventive and ingenious, to jump and experiment on its approach. In 10 years, I see these antipsychotics in the dustbin of history.
Thanks. Reading about it now. Sounds interesting.
I also think we’re going torward new days all i want with meds fewer side effects if they can do that n improve on it which i think is very possible i believe it will help alot of people
I believe in science, look at abilify, literally eliminated sexual side effects for impulse control.
So long the new medicine eliminate weight gain I really wouldn’t mind headaches and constipation that much, coupled with nasal spray that would mean most side effects are eliminated
THis is totally the opposite of what abilify did. Abilify is known for increasing sexual appetite and reducing your impulse control.
Are you being facetious? or are you really that far off the mark?
There really are some promising things happening right now if you look at the pipeline. Even if all progress halted and we were left with the things currently in development treatment of the disease would likely look very different in the next 10 years. Luckily that’s not the case. I’m actually more excited for what’s going to happen in the next 20. There growing brain orginoids right now that will lead to the first non theoretical treatments. I think there’s one for epilepsy that’s begging development in the next year or so.
There are already medications with little to no weight gain. I don’t view this as a drastic improvement. I would view meds that treat negatives significantly as a drastic improvement. But I’m not holding my breath on that.
I believe in science too, and it generally works slowly in the schizophrenia department.
Edit: Another thing I would consider a significant breakthrough would be meds to treat med resistant schizophrenics. Never going to “wipeout” sz without getting to those that still have symptoms or meds dont do much of anything for.
I wouldnt wait for it and just focus on doing the best you can now.
I’ve had people telling me how much better things will be for SZs in the next few years for the last thirty years. There has been gradual improvement over this time. That’s all. So, no, not buying it. I think there will be improvement, but not of the GLORY HALLELUJAH variety that everyone is hoping for.
Maybe in 60 years when we reach super intelligence 
Before I take my nap, I also want to point out that I don’t think weight gain is only because of meds effects on body. I think a lot of it is due to the zombification some meds cause, causing you to sit around and do nothing. I attribute this effect more to my weight gain on invega more than anything. I’m not sure a nasal spray would eliminate this effect.
Obviously Olanzapine and such do have physiological effects, so I’m not saying “zombiefication” is the only factor, I just think its one of them.
Well, the thing is that, though I generally agree with you, these 10 years seem like the real deal to me.
What we were getting in the previous many years were medications of the same type-- “antipsychotics”. You can’t repeat and do the same things and expect to get different results. There were refinements on existing medications and the side effect profile eased in the newer medications, but no-one was looking at something really different. Now, we have novel mechanisms of action that can be the potential game changers. I am glad we are moving past the dopamine hypothesis and looking at new things. The impetus in this direction means that we are bound to stumble upon something that may be effective for schizophrenia symptoms in general (not just the positive symptoms).
Once a new novel of mechanism is found, I expect the rat race to produce many medications based on that mechanism. How many antipsychotics do we have? Maybe 20-30 now, 7-8 have come in the last 10 years or so. So, provided a novel mechanism is found, there could be another 7-8 medications in the next 10 years based on that mechanism of action. Suppose that this mechanism also treats negatives, then all those medications will also treat negatives. Nasal sprays could wipe out 80-85 percent of the side effects anyway.
I am hopeful.
I am on the same page as @LevelJ1. New, more effective medication in ten years would be nice but I’m not depending on it happening. I’m going to keep living my life like I am now and not base my life on something that may, or may not happen for years. If a new medication comes along that works better, that’s just a bonus. The meds now allow me to work and take classes. That’s pretty darn good.
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