Here is my personal opinion based on my experience and observations- (Just FYI I have been in research in Nanotech electronics and telecom software engg for most of my life. Have schizophrenia for 4 years- mostly hearing voices and tactile sensations and have been a Vipassana meditator for 20 yrs- practising observing the mind, thought and bodily feelings).

Firstly, Schizophrenia is demonic interference. That makes it a very challenging problem to solve. Secondly the medical industry is not accepting this and hence research is not happening in the right direction or with the right focus. (ps: If demons sound religious scientific research can still be done as below) They give a very bleak kindergarten theory of chemical imbalance in the brain without explaining the how, why, what, of the voices, images, delusions and tactile sensations that people with schizophrenia experience. Also schizophrenia patients’ observations are often considered a moo point and hence not given importance.

To cure schizophrenia-

1. Detecting voices: It is very important to understand the content of the voices, the tones and the tactics, their nature and play to get any idea of what kind of a phenomenon it is. For that first you need to listen very attentively to the patients and their experiences and accept them and finally figure out a way to detect the voices. That would need the help of mindfulness experts and physicists/telecom engineers in this who understand a thing or two about thought, voices, vibrations and signaling. MIT has recently done research and built a device called AlterEgo which can detect “formulated” words -content of intended speech of folks who have speaking difficulty and relayed it to a computer device where others can listen to it. There is some research happening in thought detection. Brain to brain interfaces are being studied to detect brain to brain communication (proven in paper by Univ of Washington). Since these have been successful there must be effort in trying to detect “voices” in those suffering from schizophrenia- once others (scientists) are able to see the phenomenon of hearing voices by themselves they will be able to deduce, and solve better. There is a lot of information in the content, methodology, tactics, intention of voices which is currently being ignored as “hallucinations”. This is not enough interest or effort.
2. Detecting movements: Second they should use some sensors technology like wearable nano sensors to understand something about the tactile sensations people feel on their body- which they often experience as movements, tortures or physical harms, sexual harms, pressure on body etc. Instead of terming this as a delusion medical industry should do research to understand the nature of these movements and understand that these are not the same as movement disorders like Parkinson’s or epilepsy or Tourette syndrome etc found in some patients. These movements are externally applied onto the person- like repetitive pressure, touching, pushing, pulling, and can cause pain, feelings of torture or sexual harms in the body. The person’s body itself is NOT moving- these currently termed as “tactile hallucination” or “movements” are palpable by others. Psychiatrists incorrectly prescribe “Pacitane” for these movements assuming it to be human body movement disorder rooted in anxiety or fear because they don’t accept patient realities and are not “listening” to the patient. That is wrong medicine.
3. Detecting flux/inserted material/vibration: In addition to that there is a flux that is observed by patients (me too) that comes into our body as a shower or vibration- just like rain – you can feel it more if there is more vibration- this increases over time, collects into our body as an organic layer around us. When the flux is sparse people may not be aware of it. But here is what it does. This flux or material (can be felt, can’t be seen) acts as a medium to facilitate the movements I am discussing above. The thicker the flux, the thicker the layer, higher is the pressure of the movements (push and pull, back and forth) applied. These movements can be very destructive for the patient- can rape and torture the patient- a rarer but reported symptom of schizophrenia often ignored by psychiatrists. Also once this material or flux covers our body we immediately stop feeling our sensations- pain, numbness, burning, trembling etc. This is a very important symptom and may be the cause of Flat effect in schizophrenia. I know this because in my last Vipassana courses (where we observe our bodily feelings objectively) I stopped feeling any sensation at all- earlier I used to feel all my sensations sharply. In my case I have been observing this flux of vibration fill me every night. It comes from outside. And then the movements begin with more force and intensity. There might be a lot of value in being able to detect this flux or material or vibration – will give cues on a lot of things. I think this also increases the intensity of the delusions. Again nano sensors can be used – something that can detect hydro carbons or heat because the material I am talking about is organic and has craving, burning sensations when it falls on you. I am sure there are other research ideas.
4. Faith in patient view of the disease, accepting patients’ realities: Contrary to what is believed Schizophrenia is NOT a disorder where people lose sense of reality and see things that are not there- as is currently believed. It is a phenomenon where an external malevolent entity connects to human mind and force feeds or superposes sensory media in the form of voices, images, smells, touches, as well as plays with menory, language, beliefs causing dreamlike/delirium like states to keep them suppressed/occupied so they cannot focus on their own thoughts and feelings and harm them to feed on their energies. Many patients report torture and physical harms as a symptom of schizophrenia which is completely ignored by psychiatrists.
5. Alternatives to psychiatry : Unfortunately psychiatry is medical science of the “west” – a community that has disbelief in religion (Christianity) and refuses to see the spiritual quest for truth the same as the scientific quest for truth. It is only able to theorise or accept what is “obvious” to the “senses”. What they see is what they believe. As a result it is not inclusive of other theories that can help solve disease- for example a higher mind’s observation through the practice of mindfulness. Psychiatry is also not interested in cures and mostly focuses on prescription drugs as a way to manage mental illnesses. So we have to accept that is the best service we can get- mind suppressing drugs to manage our illness. It is also a study of the brain, not the mind. If you ask an average psychiatrist about what a mind is- he or she barely has any idea. They don’t even know the basics of psychology like- they don’t know that thought, feelings, beliefs, images, voices are all vibrations. Not brain. Knowing this we should not be fully trusting psychiatry so much as a promising science. If the drugs benefits you, good, otherwise just leave it- it has at best some theories which are as good as beliefs. East is not like the west and has scientific religions like Buddhism or Hinduism that are very evidence based. Mindfulness for example believes in rebirth and assumes that our mental tendencies are from our current and previous births, and that if we work on them we can come out if any suffering. Psychology in the west attributes every issue to having issues in childhood – this may be again common in the west but it is not true for eastern countries. Eastern medicine should take cues from its rich culture, ancient methodologies and practices and contribute in their own way to the view towards mental disorders. Ayurveda for example studies everything as four universal elements and balance between them. These can be verified in many Buddhist meditation practices as well. Scientists of the east should work indigenously to solve mental health challenges with innovative holistic approaches not conforming to the west. Blindly copying the west is just creating “one opinion” on mental disorders which is very skewed and harmful to humanity.
6. Can mindfulness cure schizophrenia? I believe it can. Vipassana meditation which is the basis of mindfulness- a technique that teaches us to objectively observe feelings/sensations on our body without reacting to them, not identifying with them as “I” has the promise to liberate us from all suffering. Vipassana teaches us to be very vigilant about our minds. This vigilance is key in preventing schizophrenia. We can observe tendencies of our mind and catch them early on. If external entities are attached to us that create ripples in our mind body systems that can be observed as intrusive thoughts or compulsive feelings or unexplained media, images etc. If our mindfulness practice is strong we could learn and train to identify them early on and detach from them. I don’t think it’s impossible to cure schizophrenia if we are focusing on it correctly and trying to look for whole solutions like these. Vipassana teachers would know better.