This period of destabilization can result in a serious setback to the progress that the patient has made when properly medicated. As their behaviors become increasingly troublesome to others, these people risk alienating their support systems, and they jeopardize the scarce resources that have been arranged for them.
The only responsible way to manage schizophrenia, most psychiatrists have long insisted, is to treat its symptoms when they first surface with antipsychotic drugs, which help dissolve hallucinations and quiet imaginary voices. Delaying treatment, some researchers say, may damage the brain.
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Legal scholar Elyn Saks talks about her struggles with, and surprising triumphs over, mental illness By Elyn R. Saks | December 29, 2009 | Elyn Saks is a law professor at the University of Southern California, a Marshall scholar, and a graduate of Yale Law School.