I remember back in 1987, I had been ill with schizophrenia since 1980. I had been out of the hospital for several years but I still had really bad, uncomfortable symptoms. My mom had divorced my biological dad and she was all set to marry my future step-dad.
He was a smart guy. He was a Business professor at our cities University and he was also a licensed psychologist but he chose to teach business at the University exclusively and not to ever use his psychology degree. I had just met him but he seemed like an alright guy and he was one of the select few who knew I was schizophrenic.
But one summer day, my mom had invited me out to coffee with her and Bill (not his real name). So I drove to meet them. I was having a real rough time with my schizophrenia and when we all sat down to drink our coffee I told them so. I told them I felt like giving up and I was really depressed and suicide had crossed my mind. Well, they both gave me a little pep talk and tried to help me feel better. Well this was 1987 and at the time there were only the first generation AP’s. I was on medication of course. But I remember both of them telling me that I couldn’t give up. They both told me, “Hey, you have to keep trying. They could come out with new, better medications at any time”.
Well, lo and behold, just several years later they came out with the new second-generation drugs, like Abilify, resperidone, geodon, etc. My point is that you should never give up, new medications and new forms of treatment for schizophrenia are being developing all the time. A new medication could literally be released this year or the next. THAT"S why you don’t do anything drastic or unintelligent to screw up your life. Our lives could realistically change for the better with in the forseable future. See, in my lifetime I have already seen new treatments developed and used. And I may see more. But there is always hope.