Schizophrenia

12 Pages 2989 Words

ompany with dogs.” For those with Schizophrenia, or for those with family with Schizophrenia, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the reality that society has failed this group abysmally. (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) Everyone would like to believe that mental hospitals really are not that bad, those board-and-care homes really do a great job, and that mentally ill homeless people pr!
efer to live on the streets. (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) The care and treatment of persons with Schizophrenia is the single biggest blemish on the face of contemporary American medical and social services; when the social history our era is written, the politeness of these people will be remembered as a national scandal. ( E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.)
Studies of Schizophrenia have shown that approximately one out of every hundred persons in the United States will be diagnosed with Schizophrenia during his or her lifetime. A conservative estimate of the number of persons with Schizophrenia in the U.S. today, based on recent prevalence studies, would be 1.2 million people. ( E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) If those who have had Schizophrenia and completely recovered were also included, then the estimate would be approximately 1.6 million people. ( E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) Every year another 43,000 persons are diagnosed with Schizophrenia for the first time. ( E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) Everyday another 118 persons are diagnosed with Schizophrenia for the first time. (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) These figures are only for the U.S. These are just numbers. They have little meaning for most people. The numbers fail to show the human suffering and personal tragedy, which accompanies this disease. (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.)Schizophrenia is a t!
ragedy, which goes on, year after year, for those who recover only partially or not at all. Schizophrenia is, a sentence as well as a diagnosis. The result is often a life sentence for both the person that has it and for the family,...