okiedokie: I guess from your most recent post I'm left with the question that if you have never entered into a relationship with a psychiatrist, how were you able to diagnose yourself as having schizophrenia?

No one has any difficulty recognizing the "psychotic" aspects of my experience. Whether or not it is/was schizophrenia ... that gets a little dicier. In some ways, my experience matches the diagnostic category for brief reactive psychosis, except it was longer than the 2-4 weeks typically alloted. It also matches the diagnostic category for schizophrenia, except I recovered and that alone is cause for some to say I couldn't possibly have "schizophrenia" because "schizophrenia is incurable".

Whatever the label may be for me alone, that doesn't alter the reality that many people recover from both psychosis and schizophrenia. If one has the foresight to pencil an acute schizophrenic break into their calendar, I recommend they try to arrange to have it in India, Nigeria, or any other developing nation. Three studies by the World Health Organization have revealed that the recovery rate from schizophrenia in developing nations is as high as 90%. The recovery rate in the West is so poor that the same organization has determined that those who go through the experience in a developed nation will likely never recover. "Never" is not very good odds.

If you can't make it to some remote village in Africa or India, try Finland where 80 - 85% of those who have had the benefit of Open Dialogue Treatment return to active employment and are symptom free after five years. If you can't work Finland into your travel plans, try the Czech Republic or perhaps Switzerland where there are programs modelled after those developed by Drs. John Weir Perry and Loren Mosher respectively; Perry's program had an 85% recovery rate whereas Mosher's, while lower, was still substantially higher than that offered in the current climate. Bear in mind that in the Vermont Longtitudinal Study they took the bottom 19% and found that 62% - 68% significantly improved or recovered. To quote, Dr. Edward Knight: The cohort is the least functional ever studied in world literature on schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is not incurable. Any physician who says as much is not only out of touch with the most recent research, they're not even up to date on the old research. Many, many people have recovered.<blockquote><font color=DC143C>"It's miraculous how people come back," he says. "If you talk to someone who is doing better, he or she will tell you that someone--a friend, a family member, a pastor, a therapist--reached out with warmth and gentleness and kindness."</font>

Source: New Hope for Recovery</blockquote>Recovery is possible but bear in mind, no one else can do it for you. It may or may not include medication, it may or may not include therapy, it may or may not include hospitalizations, it may or may not include psychiatrists, psychologists, or spiritual practices, but it most certainly will include the belief that you can.



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