alexandra_k: 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.
At risk of repeating myself...
<blockquote><font color=red>Most Americans are unaware that the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly found that long-term schizophrenia outcomes are much worse in the USA and other developed countries than in poor ones such as India and Nigeria, where relatively few patients are on anti-psychotic medications. In undeveloped countries, nearly two-thirds of schizophrenia patients are doing fairly well five years after initial diagnosis; about 40% have basically recovered. But in the USA and other developed countries, most patients become chronically ill. The outcome differences are so marked that WHO concluded that living in a developed country is a strong predictor that a patient will
never fully recover.</font>
Source: Drugs May Hinder Recovery
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<font color=blue>...85% of our clients (all diagnosed as severely schizophrenic) at the Diabasis center not only improved, with no medications, but most went on growing after leaving us.
-- Dr. John Weir Perry</font>
Source: Trials of the Visionary Mind
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<font color=green>There have now been three World Health Organisation studies showing that the outcome for schizophrenia in Developing countries is better than in the Industrialised world. This is extraordinary. How can places without psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation programs, medication and therapies come up with results considerably better than our sophisticated, scientific industrialised world? A country such as the USA spends 1% of its GNP on one illness, schizophrenia, and has results far worse than countries that don’t spend anything!
-- Dr. Simon Bridge</font>
Source: The Developing World Experience
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<font color=purple>The WHO Study of Schizophrenia is a long-term follow-up study of 14 culturally diverse, treated incidence cohorts and 4 prevalence cohorts comprising 1,633 persons diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses. Global outcomes at 15 and 25 years were assessed to be favorable for greater than 50% of all participants. The researchers observed that 56% of the incidence cohort and 60% of the prevalence cohort were judged to be recovered. Those participants with a specific diagnosis of schizophrenia had a recovery rate which was close to 50%. [...] The course and outcome for persons diagnosed with schizophrenia were far better in the “developing countries” than for such persons in the “developed” world of Western Europe and America.
-- Dr. Brian Koehler</font>
Source: Long Term Follow Up Studies
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<font color=maroon>Among those who went through the OPT program, incidence of schizophrenia declined substantially, with 85% of the patients returning to active employment and 80% without any psychotic symptoms after five years. All this took place in a research project wherein only about one third of clients received neuroleptic medication.</font>
Source: Dialogue is the Change
See also: Schizophrenia & Hope