Final answer:
Schizophrenia involves chronic symptoms and functional challenges, often requiring lifelong treatment with antipsychotic medications to manage the symptoms, making the statement true.
Step-by-step explanation:
True or false: Schizophrenia consists of persistent symptoms and functional challenges throughout the lifespan. The statement is true. Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that typically presents with a range of symptoms including the inability to distinguish reality from imagination, hallucinations, delusions, and negative symptoms such as emotional flatness and anhedonia. Diagnosed often in late adolescence or early adulthood, schizophrenia is associated with abnormalities in dopamine and possibly glutamate neurotransmission.
Persistent medical management with antipsychotic medications is required, which does not cure the disorder but helps to manage the symptoms, and most people diagnosed with schizophrenia will need to remain on medication for life. However, the severity and course of the illness can vary from person to person, with some experiencing fewer symptoms as they age.