ABSTRACT
Sixteen billion dollars was spent on the treatment of schizophrenia in the United States in 19901-about 0.3 per cent of the gross domestic product. This figure excludes social security benefits paid to people with schizophrenia and other indirect costs. Such a substantial investment should surely have yielded Americans significantly better rates of recovery than in less affluent parts of the world. By contrast, psychiatric care is very low on the list of priorities in developing countries. Despite this fact, the evidence points overwhelmingly to much better outcome from schizophrenia in the Third World. It is worth looking at this evidence in some detail.
