The number of patients with schizophrenia in 1985–2021, according to WHO, increased by 30%, the majority of cases are people aged 15 to 30 years. The numbers show that any family can experience schizophrenia. Despite this, schizophrenia is still one of the most frightening and “forbidden” topics in society, which people are afraid of and do not know how to talk about out loud. It also hinders the fact that most of the information available to the population is at the level of rumors, myths, and “horror stories.” Schizophrenia is not a bright personality, not a “split personality,” not “demons within.” Schizophrenia is a disease. With which you can and should learn to live, if you take the right steps in time, which relate not only to treatment, but also to the organization of your entire life as a whole.

The author touches on a wide range of topics: theories of the occurrence of schizophrenia, the most characteristic symptoms, methods diagnosis and treatment using antipsychotic drugs, social rehabilitation of people suffering from serious mental disorders. A special section is devoted to answers to practical questions that concern patients and their family members: how to accept the disease, how to live with it, how to take medications, what to do to minimize the risk of exacerbation.

The book presents material in an accessible way, covering all stages and spheres of life of people with schizophrenia and their loved ones: from the first “bells” that are worth paying attention to social implementation after diagnosis, from how to tell loved ones about the diagnosis to possible side effects from drugs. The book will contain interesting facts and life stories (we have many friends of different ages with this problem, and they are ready to share their experience), but, first of all, it will not be entertaining, but useful, so all the material is strictly structured and presented, based on the achievements of modern psychology. On the pages of this book you will not find complex medical terms, esotericism, magic, or immersion in the abyss of psychoanalysis, which makes it practically applicable for absolutely any reader interested in this topic.

For whom

It is necessary for sick people suffering from mental disorders, their relatives who are responsible for the life of a loved one. It will be useful for novice psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and psychologists involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of mentally ill patients.