Schizophrenia: Encouraging Someone to Take the Medicines
When someone you care about has schizophrenia, talk with them about how they prefer to manage their treatment. If you listen to their ideas and desires, it will help you understand how they feel about taking their medicines. And this can help when you communicate with their healthcare professional.
Here are ways to help the person take the medicines:
- Talk about medicines in a way that is meaningful to the person. For example, point out the reasons to take medicines. Say, "Your medicines help quiet the voices you hear," or "Your medicines help you study and keep your grades up." Link taking the medicines with things that the person enjoys.
- Give the person options about what to do if they want to stop taking medicines. Talk with the healthcare professional about what the options are. Make changes in the medicine routine only after consulting with the healthcare professional. And keep records about these changes and their effects.
- Ask how the person is doing with the medicine treatment. Say, "How many pills do you have left?" instead of "Are you taking your pills the way you should?"
- Talk with the person about any side effects they have from the medicines. Take any complaints seriously and see whether there is anything that you can do to help or that can be done differently.
- Help plan for relapses even if the person continues to take the medicines as prescribed. Relapses are part of the illness.
- Accept the fact that some people will not take medicine as they should even with a lot of support. Do not tie your concern and caring to whether the person takes the medicines. For those who won't or are unable to take daily medicines, injections may be a good option. Discuss injections with the person and their health professional to see whether injections may be a good option.
If you need help encouraging the person to take prescribed medicines, talk with a healthcare professional who can tell you more about the expected results of taking the medicines, what side effects to look for, and how to manage them.
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Current as of: February 4, 2026
Author:
WebMD Ignite Staff
Clinical Review Board
All WebMD Ignite education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.
Current as of: February 4, 2026
Author:
WebMD Ignite Staff
Clinical Review Board
All WebMD Ignite education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.