Hi,
I've seen these studies discussed before. According to the WHO, patients with schizophrenia in India have better outcomes than patients in the West have:
http://psychservices.psychiatryonlin...ull/57/1/143-a
Better Outcomes for Schizophrenia in Non-Western Countries
Quote:
The characterization of schizophrenia as a biological "disease" that needs to be managed mostly by pharmacologic means may also contribute to poor prognosis.
It is also possible that in Western societies, expectation and beliefs about mental illness and the operation of the health care system serve to alienate patients with schizophrenia from normal roles in society and to prolong illness.
In contrast, beliefs and practices in non-Western societies may encourage short-term illness and a quick return to premorbid status. Thus prognosis may also be the result of culturally based self-fulfilling prophecies (4).
It is obvious that although schizophrenia may have a biological basis, good outcomes depend on a pharmaco-psycho-social approach, and the psychosocial aspect may well have the greatest impact on improved outcomes.
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I think in the US we do a poor job of the pyscho-social treatments that can help some people.
M.