thanks for the links.

> The issue of medication is a complex and controversial one. On the one hand, there are numerous people who identify medication as being helpful to them; on the other, there are numerous others who don't. My position on the matter is that what helps is what helps. Regardless of whether an individual personally finds medication to be beneficial, I firmly believe they are deserving of information such as the above. If the drug you are taking carries a high risk of stroke, diabetes, tardive dyskinesia, etc., that is information you are entitled to know. Without that information you cannot truly give your informed consent.

> Just as vital, individuals are entitled to know that many people recover from schizophrenia without the use of medications. That's not to say that all people can but, rather, to counteract the perpetuated myth that medication is essential to recovery. This is simply not true.

I agree 100%.

I agree 100% that Nazi Scientists would have measured ventricular enlargement on autopsy if it was there to be measured. The fact that they did not find it does seem to strongly support the 'medication may cause ventricular enlargement' hypothesis.

With respect to the studies that have been done on neurological degeneration the conclusion that 'medication may cause degeneration' hypothesis isn't terribly supported because there is a possibility that they didn't rule out by including a control group. To play devils advocate here... The findings are also consistent with the hypothesis 'schizophrenia is a degenerative brain disorder'. In order to rule out the latter hypothesis (and hence more strongly support the former hypothesis) they would need to have a control group of people with schizophrenia (who are as severe as those who were taking the medication) in order to show that their brains did not degenerate over time. That way the neurological degeneration would be shown to be due to the medication rather than the degenerative nature of schizophrenia.

fMRI and other neuroimaging scans really don't tell us a hell of a lot... There is so much divergence between different 'normal controls' that particular individuals with schizophrenia often resemble particular normal controls more than they resemble the hypothetical construct (average) 'schizophrenic brain'. typically... it is one or two individuals with schizophrenia who throw the whole average out.