Should Neuroleptic Drugs Be Banned?

[eots]

Reprint of paper in Commitment and Civil Rights of the Mentally Ill. Proceedings of World Federation of Mental Health Conference in Copenhagen, August 1984. Edited by K. Jensen and B. Pedersen, SIND, Copenhagen, 1985.


SYNOPSIS

PART I:
THREE FACTS ABOUT NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS & SCHIZOPHRENIA
Brain Damage
Neuroleptic drugs: a trap
Drug-free treatment programs are superior

PART II:
EFFECTS OF THE DRUGS IN THE BRAIN & ON THE PERSONALITY
Targets of neuroleptic drugs in the brain
Drug effects at the receptor level
Drug effects at higher levels
The limbic system
"Anti-psychotic" drugs: A misleading term
Creativity, insight and the limbic system

Part III:
CONCLUSIONS – NEW LAWS NEEDED AND OTHER LESSONS
FROM THE NEUROLEPTIC DRUG TRAGEDY
Treatment of mentally handicapped and old people
Who shall control our brains?
Crimes and tragedies in psychiatry: past and future (?)
A legal right to drug-free care
Legal protection of committed persons against brain intrusions
Legal affirmation of four conditions of forced treatment given by the Declaration of Hawaii
A legal ban of all neuroleptic drugs

SHOULD NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS BE BANNED?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Reprint of paper in Commitment and Civil Rights of the Mentally Ill. Proceedings of World Federation of Mental Health Conference in Copenhagen, August 1984. Edited by K. Jensen and B. Pedersen, SIND, Copenhagen, 1985.


SYNOPSIS

PART I:
THREE FACTS ABOUT NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS & SCHIZOPHRENIA
Brain Damage
Neuroleptic drugs: a trap
Drug-free treatment programs are superior

PART II:
EFFECTS OF THE DRUGS IN THE BRAIN & ON THE PERSONALITY
Targets of neuroleptic drugs in the brain
Drug effects at the receptor level
Drug effects at higher levels
The limbic system
"Anti-psychotic" drugs: A misleading term
Creativity, insight and the limbic system

Part III:
CONCLUSIONS – NEW LAWS NEEDED AND OTHER LESSONS
FROM THE NEUROLEPTIC DRUG TRAGEDY
Treatment of mentally handicapped and old people
Who shall control our brains?
Crimes and tragedies in psychiatry: past and future (?)
A legal right to drug-free care
Legal protection of committed persons against brain intrusions
Legal affirmation of four conditions of forced treatment given by the Declaration of Hawaii
A legal ban of all neuroleptic drugs

SHOULD NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS BE BANNED?

Yes work to ban those drugs that may one day be used to save your paranoid and delusional ass.

From experience they work.

I went from laying in a bed all day afraid to move cause I would probably blow my brains out to actually functioning in a semi normal manner. I still have suicidal thoughts and I still have paranoid thoughts but NOW I control them and can work through them with out an overriding desire to act on them.

Unfortunately it can take years and lots of testing to figure out which drug or drugs works for an individual. Took me from 95 till 2004 to find the right mix. I do not like taking drugs but guess what sport? I take those meds EVERY day. And they work.

 

[eots]

well like they say just because we are paranoid don't mean there not after us..and I personal have no feelings of paranoia ..I have rational concerns.. SHARED BY SOME VERY RATIONAL PEOPLE.. and it amazes me your denial runs so deep that you can not even acknowledge that much is true...as you battle to control irrational paranoia maybe you are not the best one to judge rational ones ?..perhaps the magic pill that keeps your demons at bay also clouds and taints your perceptions

 

[RetiredGySgt]

well like they say just because we are paranoid don't mean there not after us..and I personal have no feelings of paranoia ..I have rational concerns.. SHARED BY SOME VERY RATIONAL PEOPLE.. and it amazes me your denial runs so deep that you can not even acknowledge that much is true...as you battle to control irrational paranoia maybe you are not the best one to judge rational ones ?..perhaps the magic pill that keeps your demons at bay also clouds and taints your perceptions

Nope. Your ignorant call to deny millions the medications that can save lives is amazing. I have never been irrational. I have always checked my paranoia with other sources and means to find if my thoughts are good or bad. Now when heavily depressed it gets hard to do that, but even then the paranoia was under control cause I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything. However having found the drugs that actually help has been like night and day.

I have gone from having to spend time every day checking my thoughts to not worrying because I have a hell of a lot less of those thoughts. I have gone from hiding in a bed to functional in a lot of circumstances. I have gone from living my life in a 10 foot deep black hole with no way out to just a small hole with light streaming in and occasionally even hope.

And you would deny that to me and all the others that need these medications. I wonder why that is?

 

[eots]

because there are so many other solutions and cures and many factors that can create these symptomsbecause they cause as many suicides, homicides and ruined lives as the save

 

[eots]

SSRI antidepressants link to higher suicide risk in seniors
Last Updated: Monday, May 1, 2006 | 3:49 PM ET
CBC News
Seniors are nearly five times more likely to commit suicide in the first month after they start taking antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft, a Canadian study concludes.
But it also found that the overall risk of suicide among seniors taking antidepressants is low, and that the risk with new drugs is high for just the initial month of taking the medications.
Study Ties Antidepressants to Suicide

THE WASHINGTON POST February 21, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Adults taking popular antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as patients given placebos, according to an analysis of hundreds of clinical trials involving tens of thousands of patients.

The results, published last week in the British Medical Journal, mirror a recent finding of the Food and Drug Administration that the drugs increase suicidal thoughts and behavior among some children and offer support to concerns going back 15 years that the mood-lifting pills have a dark side.

The examination of 702 controlled clinical trials involving 87,650 patients is the most comprehensive look at the subject and is particularly telling because it counted suicide attempts and included patients treated for a variety of conditions, including sexual dysfunction, bulimia, panic disorder and depression.

Experts cautioned, however, that the risks should be balanced against the drugs' benefits. They have been shown to be effective against depression and a host of other disorders in adults, a positive track record largely missing in tests of the drugs on children.

The new study is certain to add to the controversy over the class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI's.

Since the arrival of Prozac in 1988, these drugs have transformed psychiatry in the United States, even as persistent critics have warned that their benefits were hyped and their risks ignored. A spate of lawsuits in recent years have claimed that the drugs were responsible for violent and suicidal behavior.

New analyses of clinical trials in children last year prompted the FDA to require a prominent black box warning on labels, saying that the medications could increase the risk of suicide. The warning refers only to children but is given to all patients.

American psychiatrists continue to strongly back SSRI drugs. Groups such as the American Psychiatric Association say that fears of drug-induced suicide are vastly exaggerated and that untreated depression carries a far greater risk of suicide.

FDA officials have said they are conducting an independent analysis.

Study Ties Antidepressants to Suicide


Tardive dyskinesia is a mostly irreversible neurological disorder of involuntary movements caused by long-term use of antipsychotic or neuroleptic drugs.

Description

Antipsychotic or neuroleptic drugs are powerful tranquilizers generally prescribed for serious psychiatric disorders, as well as neurological and gastrointestinal disorders. Some common antipsychotics are: chlorpromazine HCl (Thorazine), thioridazine HCl (Mellaril), haloperidol (Haldol), perphenazine (Trilafon), thiothixene (Navane), trifluoperazine HCl (Stelazine), and fluphenazine HCl (Permitil, Prolixin).

When these drugs are used long term, tardive dyskinesia (TD) can result. About 20 percent of people taking antipsychotic drugs for more then one year become affected by TD. The prevalence of TD tends to be highest among elderly patients and among women.

Causes and symptoms

TD usually appears after years of antipsychotic drug use, and seems to be related to the total lifetime dose of medication. The symptoms include the following:


tongue protrusion


grimacing


rapid eye blinking


lip smacking, pursing, or puckering


rapid movement of the arms or legs


other involuntary movements of the head, face, neck and tongue muscles

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of TD is suspected upon observation of involuntary movements of the head, neck, face, and tongue in individuals who have a history of antipsychotic drug prescription.

Treatment

There is no standard treatment for TD. The primary approach is to discontinue or minimize the use of antipsychotic drugs while attempting to treat some of the symptoms. The treatment must be individualized to the patient, because discontinuation of the antipsychotic drug(s) may not be advisable, depending on the patient's condition. In some cases, substituting another drug for the antipsychotic drug may be beneficial.

Prognosis

Once TD appears in full-blown form, it can be permanent. With careful management, some symptoms may improve and even disappear with time. In less severe cases, some patients may recover from TD within three months of discontinuing the use of antipsychotic medication. Studies report that at least half of patients experience remission of major symptoms within 12 to 18 months following discontinuation of antipsychotic drugs. In some patients, however, decreasing the dose of the antipsychotic drug actually increases the symptoms of TD, while increasing the dose sometimes offers a temporary remission of the symptoms.

Tardive dyskinesia

 

[eots]

Can We Trust the Food and Drug Administration?



By Diana Lee

June 1, 2005

UNIORB: REALITY CHECK: HEALTH



As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) embroils in scandal after scandal, Americans need to re-examine the once revered and touted federal agency as the protector of public’s health. Although nearly 40% of Americans claimed that their confidence in the FDA has fallen due to the recent revelations, still 70% of Americans believed in the FDA’s ability to ensure the safety of prescription drugs and foods for the consumer market.



Does the FDA work for the interest of the American people, for the drug and food corporations, or for the political propaganda of the White House?



When medical professionals, scientists and analysts consistently doled out statistics showing more than half of Americans that have become obese, one might surmise that the FDA has not been protecting the people’s health. When the FDA approved numerous dangerous prescription drugs despite warnings from the experts and allowed various genetically modified (GM) products to be unlabeled on the food market, one might deduce that the FDA has been working in collaboration with the pharmaceutical and biotech companies. When questionable GM foods and certain drugs with harmful side-effects were banned in other parts of the world while these same GM foods and drugs were given a nod in the United States, one might conclude that the FDA has been functioning as a political propaganda of the Bush Administration favoring biotechnology and big business.



Known as the "the strictest regulatory agency in the world," the FDA is now under scrutiny not only in the American arena but also on world stage. The reputable FDA, as the pillar of integrity run by the elite medical professionals and scientists, has finally been disgraced by its internal documents made public from lawsuits. In debunking the myths of the FDA, these damaging files revealed the corruption within the system, the discord among the staff members, and the influences of political power and of corporations.



Myth One: New foods and drugs have been extensively tested for safety.



Contrary to scientific consensus on GM food, the FDA official policy declares that the process of genetic engineering is the same as traditional breeding; therefore, GM food does not require safety testing. U.S. biotech companies can voluntarily submit food safety testing data to federal regulators for review. According to the U.S. Center for Science in the Public Interest, when the FDA requested additional information, biotech companies complied only half the time, narrowing the scope of FDA's evaluation of data for food safety. Furthermore, a biotech manufacturer is allowed to introduce a genetically modified food without even informing the government or consumers. Worse still, the FDA ignored independent studies that showed severe harm to laboratory animals fed with GM food in order to boost biotech companies with their novel food creation.



A series of scandals involving dangerous drugs — COX-2 inhibitors, antidepressant drugs and statin drugs that are known to cause serious injuries and even deaths — have now put the FDA in the spotlight for gross negligence in giving them the green light. In November 2004, Dr. David Graham, a chief drug safety researcher, testified before the Senate — disclosing the dangers of these prescription drugs and the censorship of scientists who spoke against the agency’s drug safety review process. The fact that such harmful drugs have made it onto the market — Vioxx, Meridian, Bextra, Accutane, Crestor, Serevent — only attests to the dysfunction of the FDA’s procedure for testing drug safety.

Can we Trust the Food and Drug Administration?

 

[editec]

Nope. Your ignorant call to deny millions the medications that can save lives is amazing. I have never been irrational. I have always checked my paranoia with other sources and means to find if my thoughts are good or bad. Now when heavily depressed it gets hard to do that, but even then the paranoia was under control cause I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything. However having found the drugs that actually help has been like night and day.

I have gone from having to spend time every day checking my thoughts to not worrying because I have a hell of a lot less of those thoughts. I have gone from hiding in a bed to functional in a lot of circumstances. I have gone from living my life in a 10 foot deep black hole with no way out to just a small hole with light streaming in and occasionally even hope.

And you would deny that to me and all the others that need these medications. I wonder why that is?

Give 'em hell RGS.

Among other ratings as a corpsman, I was neuropsychiatric tech in the NAV.

As bad as the phenothiazine class drugs we used back in those days were, they were far better for the patients than the screaming paranoic terror many of them suffered from without them.

I presume that pharmacology has marched on and those drugs given today are even more helpful to the people dealing with schizophrenia.

If you've ever seen the suffering most schizos have to deal with, you'd be much more sympathetic to drug therapy, let me tell ya'.

You can't talk people out of psychosis, folks.

It's a chemical imbalance, truly it is a physical illness, (as is depression BTW) and so it requires chemicals to get that balance back into order.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a LOT of us on this board are personally familiar with this fact.

When I was truly devastatingly depressed it took drugs to break me out of that deadly cycle.

I dont have to take those drugs now, but if that black dog of chronic depression visits me again, I would not hesitate to take those drugs again, regardless of their counterindications.

 

[dilloduck]

When eots takes his all his "friends" go away and he gets lonely.

 

[eots]

Give 'em hell RGS.

Among other ratings as a corpsman, I was neuropsychiatric tech in the NAV.

As bad as the phenothiazine class drugs we used back in those days were, they were far better for the patients than the screaming paranoic terror many of them suffered from without them.

I presume that pharmacology has marched on and those drugs given today are even more helpful to the people dealing with schizophrenia.

If you've ever seen the suffering most schizos have to deal with, you'd be much more sympathetic to drug therapy, let me tell ya'.

You can't talk people out of psychosis, folks.

It's a chemical imbalance, truly it is a physical illness, (as is depression BTW) and so it requires chemicals to get that balance back into order.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a LOT of us on this board are personally familiar with this fact.

When I was truly devastatingly depressed it took drugs to break me out of that deadly cycle.

I dont have to take those drugs now, but if that black dog of chronic depression visits me again, I would not hesitate to take those drugs again, regardless of their counterindications.

yes you can use cognitive therapy to bring someone out of psychosis in fact almost all psychotic episodes will eventually end without medication ,and there is no proven organic cause of mental illness and the chemical imbalance is pure speculation

 

[eots]

The Drugging of our Children (Gary Null) (SSRI drug dangers ...

the drugging of our children - Google Video


dare you to watch this..no wait I.. DOUBLE DOG dare you....chicken

 

[snowleopard]

THE WASHINGTON POST February 21, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Adults taking popular antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as patients given placebos, according to an analysis of hundreds of clinical trials involving tens of thousands of patients.

The results, published last week in the British Medical Journal, mirror a recent finding of the Food and Drug Administration that the drugs increase suicidal thoughts and behavior among some children and offer support to concerns going back 15 years that the mood-lifting pills have a dark side.

The examination of 702 controlled clinical trials involving 87,650 patients is the most comprehensive look at the subject and is particularly telling because it counted suicide attempts and included patients treated for a variety of conditions, including sexual dysfunction, bulimia, panic disorder and depression.

Experts cautioned, however, that the risks should be balanced against the drugs' benefits. They have been shown to be effective against depression and a host of other disorders in adults, a positive track record largely missing in tests of the drugs on children.

The new study is certain to add to the controversy over the class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI's.

Since the arrival of Prozac in 1988, these drugs have transformed psychiatry in the United States, even as persistent critics have warned that their benefits were hyped and their risks ignored. A spate of lawsuits in recent years have claimed that the drugs were responsible for violent and suicidal behavior.

New analyses of clinical trials in children last year prompted the FDA to require a prominent black box warning on labels, saying that the medications could increase the risk of suicide. The warning refers only to children but is given to all patients.

American psychiatrists continue to strongly back SSRI drugs. Groups such as the American Psychiatric Association say that fears of drug-induced suicide are vastly exaggerated and that untreated depression carries a far greater risk of suicide.

FDA officials have said they are conducting an independent analysis.

Basic principle in Psychology 101:
Correlation does not equal causation.

The people taking anti-psychotic drugs and anti-depressants are already more likely to kill themselves; therefore, the drugs are most likely causing less already suicidal people to kill themselves.

 

[eots]

Basic principle in Psychology 101:
Correlation does not equal causation.

The people taking anti-psychotic drugs and anti-depressants are already more likely to kill themselves; therefore, the drugs are most likely causing less already suicidal people to kill themselves.

you don't even know the difference between psychology and psychiatry

 

[RetiredGySgt]

yes you can use cognitive therapy to bring someone out of psychosis in fact almost all psychotic episodes will eventually end without medication ,and there is no proven organic cause of mental illness and the chemical imbalance is pure speculation

Wrong. Without my medication I have severe problems and it took 9 years to find the right meds. Once we got the right medication going the difference was night and day.

I went from daily episodes of suicidal thoughts I wanted to act on and a voice in my head telling me how crappy I was to being able to almost function normally. My suicidal thoughts became so much easier to control and now with a better level of anti depressents for the first time I can say I haven't had a suicidal thought in days.

I went from cowering in my bed afraid to move cause I might blow my brains out to being able to function, to do things again , while I still have depression problems the difference is astounding.

My voice is gone and my thoughts are not like they used to be. Thoughts I had for over 9 years. Or are you saying everyone just just hope they can hold out for 9 to 15 years for their thoughts to clear all by themselves?

My paranoia is under control also. While I still don't do well in large gatherings I can go to the store or out to eat and not obsess about who is and is not following me and watching me. I still kow where ever cop is anywhere near me but it is not the paranoid thoughts they are watching me like before.

I suggest you pull your head out of your ass and talk to people that meds work for. You clearly haven't a clue about this at all.

 

[eots]

medication works for a relatively small group...as do sugar pills..that's right ..take a group of people in phycois and 15% will show marked improvement on a placebo..there are many reasons environmental toxins,emotional trauma,food allergies thyroid..that can all create the symptoms of mental illness and these drugs are now being prescribed for a host of behavioral problems in adults and children that experience no psychosis or suicidal thoughts..vitamin b 12 deficiencies can be a major contribution to depression and schizophrenia..I Have personal seen people on medications for years that should little or no improvement..that where cured through diet..and not cured like medicated people that have a host of physical side effects and dulled mental state but return to a fully functional person again..I am happy to hear they are working for you personal however


Complementary Schizophrenia Treatments - Table of Contents

Schizophrenia Treatments that Have Shown Some Benefits in Scientific Testing
Personal Therapy, CBT (Psycho-social treatments)
Glycine
Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
Antioxidant Vitamins (C, E, Alpha Lipoic Acid, etc)
Vitamin E and Other Antioxidants (for Tardive Dyskinesia)
A Healthy Diet Helps in Schizophrenia Recovery
EPA Omega-3 Fish Oils
Possible Schizophrenia Treatments that have shown some early positive results in studies
N-methylglycine (also called Sarcosine)
New Drink (Tyrodep) rich in amino acids
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Gluten-Free Diet and Schizophrenia
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Music Therapy
Chinese herbal medicine for schizophrenia


Schizophrenia.com - Complementary Schizophrenia Treatments

 

[xsited1]

No.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

medication works for a relatively small group...as do sugar pills..that's right ..take a group of people in phycois and 15% will show marked improvement on a placebo..there are many reasons environmental toxins,emotional trauma,food allergies thyroid..that can all create the symptoms of mental illness and these drugs are now being prescribed for a host of behavioral problems in adults and children that experience no psychosis or suicidal thoughts..vitamin b 12 deficiencies can be a major contribution to depression and schizophrenia..I Have personal seen people on medications for years that should little or no improvement..that where cured through diet..and not cured like medicated people that have a host of physical side effects and dulled mental state but return to a fully functional person again..I am happy to hear they are working for you personal however


Complementary Schizophrenia Treatments - Table of Contents

Schizophrenia Treatments that Have Shown Some Benefits in Scientific Testing
Personal Therapy, CBT (Psycho-social treatments)
Glycine
Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
Antioxidant Vitamins (C, E, Alpha Lipoic Acid, etc)
Vitamin E and Other Antioxidants (for Tardive Dyskinesia)
A Healthy Diet Helps in Schizophrenia Recovery
EPA Omega-3 Fish Oils
Possible Schizophrenia Treatments that have shown some early positive results in studies
N-methylglycine (also called Sarcosine)
New Drink (Tyrodep) rich in amino acids
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Gluten-Free Diet and Schizophrenia
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Music Therapy
Chinese herbal medicine for schizophrenia


Schizophrenia.com - Complementary Schizophrenia Treatments

And your WRONG again. 80 percent of people with these problems can and are treated by medication. You keep trying to change the bar. You claim meds don't work, I prove they do with MY experience and you claim they only work for a few people cause of "suggestion". You are a dumb shit. It took 9 YEARS and testing with different meds to find the ones that work right with me.

It took adding anti psychotic meds to the mix, something the doctor did not do for most of that time. Ohh and he did not tell me they were anti psychotic until after I read the literature and confronted him. BUT they work. I will NOT stop taking them even though I HATE taking pills. Why? Cause on the morning I woke up after getting this mix the difference was night and DAY.

More study needs done to more accurately determine the likely meds that will work quicker, rather than blind testing. The anti depressants would work sort of for a while then quit, this one either because of the anti psychotic added or cause it is the right one works pretty well.

YOU need meds for paranoia and I believe that is WHY you write drivel like this. You are afraid someone is gonna finally put your ass in a nut ward and give you meds to fix your obvious obsessions.

 

[waltky]

Report on schizophrenia find shortcomings in care...

'Catastrophic failings' in schizophrenia care
13 November 2012 - Alternative ways of caring for patients with schizophrenia are needed, says the inquiry

An independent inquiry says a major overhaul is needed in the system for caring for people with schizophrenia. The Schizophrenia Commission, which was set up a year ago, says patients spend too long in "demoralised and dysfunctional" hospital wards. Its analysis suggests the condition costs society almost £12bn a year - and treatment budgets could be spent more wisely to stop people from getting ill. The government says mental health is one of its high priorities. A spokesman said: "We are clear that people with mental health problems should be treated with the same high quality and dignified care as anyone else and we expect the NHS to make this happen."

The commission, which was established by the charity Rethink Mental Illness, says too much is spent on secure care - 19% of the mental health budget in England last year - with many people staying too long in expensive units. Among the 42 recommendations, the report calls for a better use of "recovery houses" in the community, to provide an alternative to hospital admission. The average cost of a night in a mental health in-patient bed is £321 - meaning a typical admission of 38 days costing more than £12,000. The commission says early intervention teams, which aim to help people before their hallucinations or delusions become severe, are popular and should be extended. The report claims some teams are being cut or diluted at the moment.

'Madhouse'

Prof Sir Robin Murray from King's College London, which chaired the commission, said: "If you have psychosis and your mind is disturbed, you need a period of respite and calm. "But especially in inner cities, you get admitted to something like a madhouse. The nurses are often overwhelmed. "If patients have had a bad experience and then a further relapse, it's more likely they will then have to be admitted by compulsion. "The system is pervaded by pressure. People are locked up too often and for too long. "There's a preoccupation with risk, and the idea that this is a madman with an axe. But people with schizophrenia are actually more likely to be attacked themselves. "There's no other condition where such an emphasis is put on the risk of an effect on other people." The report says care of people with schizophrenia and psychosis is falling "catastrophically short". An economic analysis for the commission highlighted an "exceptionally low" employment rate for people with schizophrenia of 7%, as well as disrupted education - because the illness often develops in young adulthood.

The authors said some of the costs of schizophrenia were unavoidable - but effective interventions, such as family therapy and making a concerted effort to find people jobs, were not being widely used. Paul Jenkins, head of the charity Rethink Mental Illness, was also a member of the commission. He said: "It's been over 100 years since the term 'schizophrenia' was first coined, but care and treatment are still nowhere near good enough. "It is a scandal that in 2012 people with schizophrenia are dying 15-20 years earlier than the general population." The report said tackling those worse chances of physical ill health would take many years, but made economic sense. And it highlighted poor prescribing practice as another problem faced by people with schizophrenia, saying patients were not always receiving the most effective medication. The report - titled The Abandoned Illness - concludes patients can be given hope and support, with the aim of stability or recovery.

BBC News - 'Catastrophic failings' in schizophrenia care