Thus, although the majority of patients with schizophrenia
were on antipsychotic medications, at each of the 5 followups, over a third were not on antipsychotic medications.
Although the focus of the current report is on the medication
status of the patients at the 15-year follow-ups, the data
indicate significantly better functioning for the patients not on
antipsychotic medications at the 15-year follow-ups and also
at earlier follow-ups for these patients extending back over
the previous 10 years. It seems likely that some of these
schizophrenia patients chose to leave the mental health caretaking system because their symptom level and functioning
had improved.