Gemstone: Has there ever been testing done to see if someone who has quit these medications still has the brain abnormalities? Would it heal itself? I would guess not. Its very concerning.

It's been understood for a very long time that many people recover from schizophrenia -- fully and completely. Why that fact should remain such a secret is the mystery.

<blockquote>... long term studies however ... done in 12 different countries now indicate that irrespective of treatment, 30% of schizophrenics completely recover within 25 years. There have been studies from Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia, the United States, Germany... they all find the same thing. Unfortunately, the best of the American studies -- that of Courtney Harding, which studied patients from Vermont -- found that the patients got better in 20 years but the patients who stayed on their medication as long as their doctors told them to, none of them ever recovered. 50% of the patients eventually stopped taking their medication against medical advise and all of the patients who had a full recovery were in that group.

PTR: So what you're saying Dr. Karon is first of all that schizophrenia is really an experience, an experience of terror ...

BK: Right.

PTR: And secondly, if someone continues to take the medication as prescribed by psychiatrists and doctors, that the odds are that they won't improve and get better. They're better off stopping the medication.

BK: Taking the medication may make them easier to manage but it gets in the way of full recovery.

Source: Dr. Bertram Karon: Schizophrenia & Psychotherapy