Rethinking schizophrenia

Nature. 2010 Nov 11;468(7321):187-93. doi: 10.1038/nature09552.

Abstract

How will we view schizophrenia in 2030? Schizophrenia today is a chronic, frequently disabling mental disorder that affects about one per cent of the world's population. After a century of studying schizophrenia, the cause of the disorder remains unknown. Treatments, especially pharmacological treatments, have been in wide use for nearly half a century, yet there is little evidence that these treatments have substantially improved outcomes for most people with schizophrenia. These current unsatisfactory outcomes may change as we approach schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder with psychosis as a late, potentially preventable stage of the illness. This 'rethinking' of schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is profoundly different from the way we have seen this illness for the past century, yields new hope for prevention and cure over the next two decades.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Cognition Disorders / complications
  • Cognition Disorders / prevention & control
  • Cognition Disorders / therapy
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Humans
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Schizophrenia / genetics
  • Schizophrenia / history
  • Schizophrenia / physiopathology*
  • Schizophrenia / therapy
  • Schizophrenic Psychology