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The History of Schizophrenia Treatment

Author: Elaine Guo

Editors: Fiona Cheng, Hwi-On Lee, Serena Tsao, Alex Yang

Artist: Helen Gong


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Schizophrenia, a chronic mental health disorder, affects less than one percent of the US population. It influences how someone thinks, feels, and behaves, producing both positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms encompass experiences that are “present” which most people don’t experience, such as hallucinations, hearing voices, or seeing things that don’t exist. Negative symptoms comprise experiences that are “absent,” or a decrease in function, such as impaired emotional expression and decreased speech output. Schizophrenia also leads to problems with attention, concentration, and memory. Researchers believe that schizophrenia can be caused by genetic or environmental factors. While there is no cure for the disorder, treatment is available in the form of medications and therapies.

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Symptoms resembling schizophrenia were first documented centuries ago. During the Middle Ages, people who expressed schizophrenia-like symptoms were labeled as “possessed,” resulting in harsh treatment and exorcism. Later, physicians introduced insulin coma therapy, which induces a coma after the administration of high doses of insulin in an attempt to “reset” the brain. Conversely, it puts patients at risk for stroke and heart attack. Moreover, frontal lobotomies also gained popularity before and after World War II. It pacified agitated patients, but it also came with a high risk of further impairment. Shock therapy was introduced not long after. This technique jolted the patient out of their catatonia, a period of decreased movement, but the effects were short-lived. Due to the side effects of chemical shock and insulin, scientists invented electroshock therapy in 1938, but it resulted in a similar issue of temporary lucidity followed by relapse. Because of this, psychiatric hospitals were treated as a storage space for schizophrenic patients rather than a treatment center. 

Today, modern-day clinicians have to diagnose patients with schizophrenia using the DSM-5-TR, a diagnostic manual with the symptoms of the disorders listed. After a patient is diagnosed, they can be given antipsychotic medication that targets dopamine regulations, which come in two categories. First-generation antipsychotics alleviate hallucinations and delusions but often cause motor side effects. On the other hand, second-generation antipsychotics offer improved management with fewer side effects. 

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Additionally, patients can be put into therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, helping people recognize and cope with delusions and hallucinations, or social skills training which helps patients improve communication skills. Throughout history, treatments have been inhumane and have become humane across time, but they continue to improve today and advance as time passes. 

Citations:

“Human Rights of Persons with Schizophrenia before and after Wartime.” The National WWII

schizophrenia-and-after-wartime. Accessed 26 Sept. 2025.

“Schizophrenia Treatments: How They Evolved over Time.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon

treatments#stigma. Accessed 26 Sept. 2025.

“Schizophrenia.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 16 Oct. 2024,

“What Is Schizophrenia?” Psychiatry.Org - What Is Schizophrenia?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-

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