Advances in Schizophrenia Research

About this book

Edited by Wagner F. Gattaz and Gerardo Busatto

Schizophrenia stands as a major psychiatric mystery: devastating to patients and families, resistant to treatment, burdened by stigma, causes unknown. As interest and research in the disorder continue worldwide, new sources for comprehensive reviews of cutting-edge studies are of growing importance. The leadoff volume of Advances in Schizophrenia Research 2009 fills this need with welcome innovation and scientific rigor.

Presenting papers from the recent Symposium on the Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia, leading scientists offer latest findings, promising theories, relevant controversies, and emerging frontiers, in areas as varied as commonalities with other psychotic disorders and the impact of social factors on rehabilitation. Whether one’s interest is in prevalence, genetics, risk factors, neuropathology, diagnostic boundaries, or treatment options, the discussion includes a number of intriguing and informative perspectives.

A sampling of the topics covered:

• Incidence and outcome of schizophrenia: the view from around the world.
• Schizophrenia: neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, or both?
• The molecular genetics and proteomics of schizophrenia.
• Marijuana use: distraction from the issues, or key to the disease?
• Antipsychotic drug treatment: facts and fiction
• The case for schizophrenia as cognitive disorder.

This wide-ranging coverage makes Advances in Schizophrenia Research 2009 a reference for professionals in clinical psychology, psychiatry, neuropsychology and other mental health workers, promoting more nuanced understanding of the disease, providing deeper insights into its management, and inspiring new possibilities for practice and research.

Written for: Psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists

Keywords:

Antipsychotics
Community care for schizophrenia
Diagnosis of schizophrenia
Dopamine
Epidimiology of schizophrenia
Genetics of schizophrenia
Incidence of schizophrenia
Models of schizophrenia
Neuropathology of schizophrenia
Pathopsychiology of schizophrenia
Pharmacogenomics in schizophrenia
Pharmacology for schizophrenia
Prevalence of schizophrenia
Prodrome
Prognosis of schizophrenia
Psychopathology
Psychosis
Rehabilitation of schizophrenia
Risk factors for schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Stigmatization in schizophrenia
schizophrenia and Cognition
schizophrenia medications
schizophrenia treatment

Table of contents

Incidence and outcome of schizophrenia across the globe.- Gene and environment interactions and epigenetics of schizophrenia.- The course and outcome of schizophrenia: are there new trends?- Impact of contextual mechanisms on the incidence of schizophrenia and other psychoses.- Perspectives and conclusions.- Glutamate-dopamine interactions in schizophrenia.- Schizophrenia: Neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative or both?.- The neuropathology of schizophrenia: novel findings and epigenetic regulation.- Molecular neuroimaging, pathophysiological mechanisms and drug discovery.- Discussant.- Molecular genetics of schizophrenia: new discoveries and controversies.- Genetic and developmental animal models of schizophrenia.- Neuroproteomic studies of post-mortem brains in schizophrenia.- Neuroimaging studies of gene effects in the brain in schizophrenia.- Pharmacogenomics in schizophrenia.- Perspectives and conclusions.- Prediction of psychosis through the prodromal syndrome.- Is schizophrenia a cognitive disorder?- Disorder of social cognition .- Impact of new strategies (early intervention, second-generation drugs) on the course and outcome of schizophrenia.- Perspectives and conclusions.- Dimensional dysfunctions.- Risk factors for psychosis all impact on dopamine.- Cannabis: clue or distraction?.- The totality of psychosis.- Perspectives and conclusionst.- Comparative efficacy and safety of second-generation antipsychotics: facts and fiction.- Neuroreceptors, schizophrenia and antipsychotic action.- Does the use of long-acting antipsychotics impact significantly on the outcome of schizophrenia?- Modern community care strategies for the treatment of schizophrenia and their impact on outcome.- Does Stigma impair treatment response and rehabilitation in schizophrenia?- Perspectives and conclusions.