DISCUSSION
An important issue is which types of patients with
schizophrenia, when studied on a longitudinal basis, are most
likely to function adequately without antipsychotic medications. In general, modern-day medications for the severely
mentally ill are a positive factor for many of these patients,
especially those who remain in clinical outpatient settings;
this has been firmly established in a large number of efficacy
and effectiveness studies with first-generation antipsychotics
and, more recently, second-generation antipsychotics, with
the studies involving patients in clinical settings. Most of the
many positive studies are based on an important population of
patients, those involved in clinic treatment and clinic settings.
However, after acute hospital treatment, when these patients
leave the hospital, not all patients originally treated with
antipsychotic medications continue on these medications