"Kevin Smith" (not his real name) was 17 when his parents noticed he had suddenly become a loner. Always a buoyant kid who spent his free time with friends, he now seemed anxious and complained that people were staring and talking about him behind his back. He also wasn't sleeping regularly, staying up all night watching television.

Recognizing that Kevin's behavior was possibly more than normal teenage turmoil, his parents sent him to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed Kevin with schizophrenia, hospitalized him, and began treatment with antipsychotic medication. Today, he takes medication and no longer has any symptoms of schizophrenia – and he is finishing college with his peers.

"Kevin is not unusual," said David Greenfeld, MD, a clinical psychiatrist at Yale University. "Many people can recover with antipsychotic treatment. What is unusual is that his parents noticed the problem right away and had him promptly evaluated by a psychiatrist. If Kevin's illness had progressed for many years without treatment, his symptoms would have been more difficult to treat."

There is increasing evidence that starting antipsychotic medications early in schizophrenia can reduce symptoms of the disease in the long term. Recently, Dr. Richard Jed Wyatt, chief of neuropsychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health, reviewed 22 studies of schizophrenia and concluded that patients who started antipsychotic medications within a few months of the first episode had fewer relapses and fewer subsequent hospitalizations and were more likely to return to a healthier lifestyle.

"Early diagnosis just makes sense," said Dr. Greenfeld. "Too often if someone's behavior is strange, parents take a wait-and-see attitude. They hope their child will grow out of it, but, in reality they are denying that there may be a serious mental illness."

Part of the trouble has been older medications with powerful side effects, which made people reluctant to use them. But even with better medications, patients aren't getting started any earlier, according to Dr. Wyatt. "The average length of time is still well over two years after the person first becomes psychotic," he said.

"Denial and stigma make it very difficult to seek treatment," said Mary Kundrat, executive director of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Montgomery County, Maryland.

"If someone senses they have a problem, the tendency is to keep it hidden rather than seek help," explained Dr. Greenfeld.

In addition, many people still have the misconception that you can tough mental illness out if you have the will power. "If you had cancer you wouldn't think that way," Dr. Greenfeld said. "You would want to get treated as soon as possible."

Dr. Wyatt stresses that getting on proper medication early doesn't mean rushing into it within days – or even weeks – of the first episode. In fact, it's important to be sure of the diagnosis first. Starting on antipsychotics within the first several months is probably enough to make a difference, he said.

This is not to suggest that it's too late for people who have had schizophrenia for years and didn't start on medication right away. Antipsychotics given after the disease has progressed are still a vital treatment for the symptoms of schizophrenia.

"The public needs to be better informed about the signs of schizophrenia, and we need to do more to fight the stigma against the disease," said Dr. Greenfeld. "Prolonged symptoms without treatment interfere with people's lives causing many people to fall behind their peers, which creates additional psychological problems."