Evidence-based hope for recovery from “schizophrenia”: A common objective for all stakeholders in the mental health field

Abstract

This article summarizes the research about, and presents a personal account of, recovery from “schizophrenia”. In a potentially optimistic mental health scenario, like that in Italy, where psychiatric hospitals were closed and community-oriented care is nearly ubiquitous, the majority of mental health professionals maintain a pessimistic outlook concerning the long-term outcomes of schizophrenia. This gap between a clinician’s daily practice and prognostic beliefs about schizophrenia has a considerable effect on the expectations of patients and their families, and is the underlying theme of this article. Hope can be considered reasonable on two conditions: that it is not taken for granted and that it is supported by convincing data. The available scientific evidence on favourable outcomes of schizophrenia is consistent and convincing. The “positive” personal accounts of recovery, which have been accumulating over the last few decades, represent another relevant source of evidence. The “evidence-based” hope of recovery from schizophrenia is a reasonable one, both now and in the near future. It represents a common horizon for people who experience psychotic episodes, for their families and for all healthcare professionals who support abilities rather than disabilities.