This is for anyone new to psychosis and schizophrenia and looking for help. Generally the best place to go are the “early psychosis treatment centers” in your area - they focus on this type of thing and have the best treatment protocols:
Try the links below or search on your state name and “early psychosis treatment” or “First episode psychosis” and you will likely find some good resources.
A list of nation wide resources for early psychosis treatement:
My daughter has received amazing care at the First Episode Early Psychosis Program at Mass General in Boston. Her psychiatrist has been a miracle worker. She started seeing him at age 15. She’s now 23 and loves him. He once told her she was playing not to lose and she needed to play to win. And that’s what she’s been doing. I wish there were programs like this available everywhere, but they are growing in number. I highly recommend them.
One thing I didn’t know is that (at least in NYS), the individual had to start having psychotic symptoms within the last 3 years. My son had started in 5th grade, and the minimum age for the Early Psychosis program was 16.
Once he finally hit 16, they wouldn’t let him in the program because it was no longer “early psychosis”. So be sure to sign up as soon as possible.
In my son’s case maybe it was better anyway because we found a private psychiatrist who recommended clozapine and it’s been great. The early psychosis programs probably vary a lot by where you live. Teaching hospitals are great resources.