When you add up the direct costs of treating patients with schizophrenia, it is a staggering number: $22 billion in the United States alone. As effective as many of them are, antipsychotic drugs are costly, and many have significant side effects. We detail the history of these medications on the following pages. Effective antipsychotics remain a critical avenue of research, and we also take a look at drug candidates in the pipeline.
Of course, drugs are not enough. Those with schizophrenia need intensive social supports. As Jeffrey Lieberman, chair of Columbia University's department of psychiatry, puts it in the last story in this section, recovering from schizophrenia is a bit like being rescued from an island years after being shipwrecked. "You've been away...
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
