Recovery from schizophrenia: a personal odyssey.

The author, who was diagnosed as having chronic process schizophrenia, describes her experiences as a patient in the treatment world of the chronic mentally ill, beginning at age 17. Over the next six years she was seen by four psychiatrists, was hospitalized eight times, attended day hospitals, lived in a foster care home, and received shock treatments, megavitamin therapy, and a variety of neuroleptic and antidepressant drugs. Eventually she developed a drinking problem and was forced to enter a chemical dependency treatment program. The first of many turning points in her illness came when a psychiatrist associated with the program believed she could recover and persuaded staff to work with her. The author defines hope as an essential element in the recovery process and emphasizes the importance of instilling hope for recovery in physicians, patients, and patient care staff. She attributes her recovery to multiple, sometimes nontraditional, treatment approaches and to the coping techniques she learned with the help of others.