Schizophrenia has long been seen as a serious chronic disorder. In a new doctorate was found that some patients with schizophrenia recover completely. The degree of cognitive difficulties at the outbreak appears to have a bearing on what happens in the long term.

Photo: Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

This comes from a story in Morgenbladet.no, where they summarize research to Susie Fu, who dgraduated on 16 May at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo with the dissertation Full recovery in first-episode schizophrenia. Long-term cognitive functioning and functional outcome.

Some recover completely

Morgenbladet.no shows that research went over 8 years, and that a group of patients recovered fully. 

According to Susie Fu, is meant here with recovery include: 

They must be able to live independently, have a good work function without facilitation and be able to function well socially. They should be able to meet friends regularly and have the opportunity to start a family or enter into a love relationship. At times, they may find it difficult to balance, but it will not completely limit them in everyday life.

Susie Fu's studies also emphasize that schizophrenics are a diverse group, with some recovering partially or completely, while others do not recover.

The importance of cognitive difficulties

The doctoral degree has particularly focused on how cognitive factors such as working memory and attention play a role in the prognosis of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, as well as how such cognitive evner evolves over time. 

Fu found that the degree of cognitive difficulties experienced by patients at disease onset says something about how well patients fare over time.

Medications important in the acute phase - not necessarily in the long term

Third study of doctorate dealt with the importance of medicine in the recovery process. Susie Fu tells about this to Morgenbladet.no:

Medications are very important to stabilize the disease in the acute onset phase. If you quit too soon, there is a greater risk of relapse.

Our study of six to eight years shows that you do not necessarily have to go on medication for life, that you can maintain good function without continued medication use. There will always be a risk of relapse, but many report that they recognize the symptoms earlier and recover faster.

Source

• Research that conveys hope. Morgenbladet.no
• Scientific abstract: Full recovery in first-episode schizophrenia. Long-term cognitive functioning and functional outcome. University of Oslo