ABSTRACT
We will leave Jenny there. There are several possible outcomes for her and others who, like her, are diagnosed as ‘schizophrenic’. (‘Schizophrenia’ refers, not to a split personality, but to a state where a person loses hold on reality and may suffer from delusions and hallucinations.) She may make a good recovery after one breakdown, as about a quarter of sufferers do, and resume a normal life. She may go on to have repeated breakdowns and admissions, spending as much time in hospital as out of it, as happens to another quarter of people so diagnosed. Or some kind of compromise situation may be reached whereby she manages to stay out of hospital most of the time, but settles for a limited existence at home, friendless and partnerless, never quite able to break away from her family to establish independence and an identity of her own.
