The time is now to effect positive changes in the mental health system.
My contention is that living in a residence and collecting SSI shouldn’t be the knee-jerk reaction when someone is diagnosed with schizophrenia. I have lived experience in a mental health system. Years later I maintain I succeeded despite my time in that system not because of it.
Of course the earlier you’re treated with the right kind of treatment (individualized therapy, medication, family support and education, and practical career and housing counseling) the better the outcome.
Getting the right treatment right away does often enable a person to take a lower dose of medication.
Not only this: two guys I know later in life reduced their medication or changed it when they got a new shrink and they were OK too. Another study does indicate that doing this has benefits for some people.
These two studies will have to be reviewed over the long-term.
Yet if you want proof of the long-term success of early intervention: read my memoir Left of the Dial. I’ve been in remission over 23 years now.
Science and kindness can help people heal.
