What do you mean it's a punishment?
Typical treatments like Haldol, Thorazine, and Depakote have a blunting and depressive effect on the entire central nervous system. Treatments like shock therapy, cause severe memory loss and permanent brain damage.
These "treatments" are often paired with coercion, involuntary injections, confinement in psych wards, and court orders.
Many times LE will bring a civilian to a psych ward as a secondary or additional option to charging them with a crime. It's often seen as an additional tool in creating orderly communities, disciplining individuals that get out of line, and overall exerting control on society and free thought and action. Once a patient is admitted or diagnosed, they are strongly incentivized to align themselves and their behaviors to the values and expectations of the institutions and people that brought them there and control their release and treatment plans.
Even if schizophrenia had a biological signature it wouldn't be used in practice because they WANT the ambiguity and discretion to classify and medicate patients as they see fit.
The parent is sensationalizing a good bit, but I agree with his overal point: treatment of schizphrenics -- and other "untouchables" syndromes -- is very poor.
Antipsychotics are hell. Full stop. Even for next-generation pharmaceuticals. Risperidone took away the delusions, and every other faucet of myself that made me human. Can it improve quality of life? Yes, it can. If the case is severe enough that the patient is endangering themselves or others (through violence or neglect), antipsychotics can sedate their impulses and delusions.
I would describe it as a short-term (if ceased within a reasonable timeframe) chemical lobotomy. No hyperbole.
I was lucky that I'm fairly educated, quick of mind, and primarily presented with negative symptoms (catatonic subset). Delusions and psychosis are transient, and I'm able to reflect on them, identify when they pop up, and not act on them.
For someone that is in a near-constant state of psychosis, antipsychotics are really al that can be done, but I personally would rather be dead, than a husk. If I were still on them, I probably wouldn't believe this because the drugs would take away some of my agency.
I'm now on a hefty dosage of a certain dopamine agonist, and it has improved my quality of life immensely. There are stil bugs, and psychosis and delusion are much more common now, but I have a good grasp on them and wouldn't want to to back to being a shel of a human.
It's dehumanizing and violates my dignity.
Haldol, Thorazine, and Depakote are older but still widely used, even for disorders like bipolar. Even atypical antipsychotics are still life-changing, personality altering, potentially diabetes-inducing heavy handed tools. You yourself admit the side effects are horrible. It's far from FUD. Be glad your family member is getting appropriate treatment.
This morning in my country an allegedly deranged 41-year old man stabbed a 16-year old girl to death. The media reports that he underwent psychiatric treatment in 2018. I will take the liberty of translating roughly one of his facebook posts to show you some "abnormal or undesirable" thought patterns, as you call them, and why appropriate treatment is necessary.
> Today when they tell me that they have checked the first floor check above us, the apartment is the last name P., first name I.D., if the commanders report that they did not pass the check, the team that went into the apartment and they pretend to do some kind of check or what do I know supervision, let alone protecting us officials, they have an announcement after the order has been issued exactly as long as they have to scram out of the apartment as our commanders give them. We are the dead guard, then there is no such thing as a stop, I stopped, who goes, the password, the response, the Praetorians. The dead guard shoots, slaughters and then only checks when it is resolved that the protected natural persons are safe near the action and only then reports to the proper authorities.
https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/osumnjiceni-za-ubojstvo-...
2) you can't drive. There's ways around it, but they involve extra courses and costs.
3) There's many things you can't do. From getting a security clearance to working in the police force, certain legal professions, certain medical professions ...
4) as a kid, let's not go into just HOW bad psychological treatment is.
5) medications against this are basically drugs. They're strong sedatives that don't help, except by sedating you in the moment.
6) those medications have side effects. Like all sedatives they can kill you, cause sleep problems, depression, hallucinations, "freezing" (weakness, up to total inability to move), tremors/shakes, eating problems. AND a common and interesting one: you don't consider the long-term consequences of your actions under the influence of these drugs, up to total unscrupulousness. Which brings us back to problem no. 1.
7) worse, if you go over the recommended dosage and duration the side effects generally become permanent. Eventually what happens is what people call "zombification". Summer Glau (or whoever ...) could come to your bedroom and offer absolute "anything goes" and you would not be able to lift a finger. Those recommended doses and duration are essentially nothing (enough for a mild high at best), and somewhere between hours and weeks depending on the exact drug.
8) EVERY psychiatrist and EVERY institution does not just go over those limits, they exceed them by years, factor of 10, "for lack of alternative". (meaning the alternative is having people watch those patients, much more expensive)
8) I guarantee the patient will be the one blamed for it, not the drugs, not the science itself (that clinical psychology has no answers for problems other than sedation), and not the nurses/docters that exceed the recommended dose by a factor 100.