Can schizophrenia be cured?

  Schizophrenia is a mental illness with a high relapse rate. It has been reported that there are very few cases of schizophrenia that occur only once in a lifetime and do not relapse; 8% of cases have multiple episodes and do not return to their pre-morbid normal state during the remission period; and as many as one-third of cases have multiple episodes and do not return to normal during the remission period and have their mental impairment worsen one time over another.  This shows that it is not easy to “break the root” of schizophrenia. However, it is possible to reduce the relapse rate of schizophrenia patients and increase the remission rate.  Generally speaking, those with an acute onset have a good prognosis, while those with a slow, insidious onset have a poorer prognosis; the younger the age of onset, the worse the prognosis; patients with a family history of schizophrenia have a poorer prognosis, while those without a genetic history have a better prognosis; those with clinical symptoms that are emotionally rich have a better prognosis, while those with indifferent emotions have a poorer prognosis; those who are married and have a harmonious family have a better prognosis, while those who are married but have family tension have a poorer prognosis; and those who are celibate or separated have a poorer prognosis. The prognosis is worse for those who are single, separated, widowed, divorced, and have poor self-care ability, and better for those who live alone but have strong self-care ability and adaptability; the prognosis is better for those who have strong work ability than those who have poor work ability; the prognosis is better for those who have strong mental capacity and self-regulation ability, and vice versa.  In terms of the types of schizophrenia, patients with the catatonic and paranoid types have a better prognosis than those with the youthful and simple types. The longer the duration of the disease, the more likely it is to relapse, and the first 3 years of onset are an important period for treatment. If treatment is given after 3 years, the cure rate is significantly reduced and the relapse rate of the disease is increased. This shows the importance of early treatment. Many family members, although they have found that the patient is not normal, but for the sake of saving face, do not go to the regular hospital for treatment, as a result, it turns chronic and makes the cure difficult.  If combined with family care and social function training, the non-relapse rate can be increased to 75%; if medication is used alone, the non-relapse rate is only 38%. Only timely treatment and comprehensive rehabilitation measures can improve the efficacy and reduce the relapse rate.  Whether schizophrenia can be cured, early detection, early treatment and adherence to long-term treatment are key. Generally speaking, once a mental abnormality is detected, the earlier the treatment, the better the outcome. In addition, it is also important to adhere to long-term maintenance treatment. The follow-up found that about 20% of the patients were cured (cut off) due to timely and systematic treatment, especially when they were able to adhere to medication consolidation even after their condition had improved significantly, and they were able to accept the doctor’s guidance for a considerable period of time, and their condition had been stable, and they were able to work or study normally.  Of course, whether the patient can be cured or not is also affected by other factors, among which the degree of family care is an important factor affecting the patient’s condition regression. More than half of the patients with good family relations, good family care and stable jobs have stable disease and rarely relapse. Those without a family history of mental illness have much less chance of relapse, and the opposite is not optimistic. In addition, psychosocial factors such as life events and living environment are also important factors affecting prognosis.  Therefore, although the etiology of schizophrenia is unknown and there are more factors that can affect the prognosis, making it difficult to cure the disease, the chances of cure can be greatly increased by early detection and treatment, adherence to maintenance treatment, avoidance of adverse psychosocial factors, improvement of the family environment, and active medical guidance.