My experience in a developing nation is that schizophrenics, provided they were not actively dangerous to their surroundings, were well cared for by family <i>and</i> their general environment. The &#x27;village idiot&#x27; (even in the big city where I lived) - their words - was free to roam the city and generally watched out for by everyone.<p>Of course, the flip-side was that those with mental illnesses (or other disabilities) who had no family would generally have a miserable existence.<p>Edit: the equivalent I&#x27;ve found here in the West has been Evangelical churches. I strongly suspect some of the &#x27;prophet&#x27; or otherwise &#x27;specially anointed&#x27; characters to be (mildly?) schizophrenic.