It is important to diagnose and treat schizophrenia as early as possible to help people avoid or reduce frequent relapses and re-hospitalizations. People who experience acute symptoms of schizophrenia may require intensive treatment, sometimes including hospitalization. Hospitalization is necessary to treat severe delusions or hallucinations, serious suicidal inclinations, inability to care for oneself, or severe problems with drugs or alcohol. It is critical that people with schizophrenia stay in treatment even after recovering from an acute episode. About 80 percent of those who stop taking their medications after an acute episode will have a relapse within one year, whereas only 30 percent of those who continue their medications will experience a relapse in the same time period.
Medication appears to improve the long-term prognosis for many people with schizophrenia.
Fifteen percent have not improved, and 10 percent have died, usually by suicide or accident. Despite media focus on the exceptions, individuals receiving treatment for schizophrenia are no more prone to violence than the general public. Unfortunately, almost one-third of all U.S. jails incarcerate people with severe mental illnesses who have no charges against them, but are merely waiting for psychiatric evaluation or the availability of a psychiatric hospital bed. PACT programs are now statewide in four states and growing in another 20 states. In these places, PACT is significantly reducing hospital admissions, improving the quality of life, and improving functioning for those it serves.