Mind, Brain, and Schizophrenia

Over the last two decades, molecular genetics and brain imaging have guided efforts to find the causes of schizophrenia. It is becoming increasingly clear that many genes are involved in schizophrenia and that they interact with other factors in very complex ways, which have not yet been elucidated. Neuroimaging techniques have allowed scientists and physicians to examine brain structure, function, and chemistry in living patients with schizophrenia but results so far have been disappointing. No two patients seem to share exactly the same combination of clinical symptoms or physical findings. Yet all have the syndrome recognized as schizophrenia. The author of this accessible, well-written book argues that it is time to set aside the search for a single cause of schizophrenia and focus on the disease's final common pathway. He highlights clues from a wide range of research, including neurotransmitter, psychophysiological, and brain imaging studies. He then describes possibilities for the final common pathway at an understandable level in the context of what is already known about schizophrenia. While there are no preferred models of schizophrenia, a pattern is emerging which implicates those structures in the brain known to be important in integrating perception, cognition, and affect. A better understanding of these processes will be critical for developing more effective treatments. This book will help advance that effort. It will be of great value to psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, neuroimagers, and basic scientists working in the field of schizophrenia research, and to their students and trainees. It will also be of interest to clinicians and scientists concerned with other neuropsychiatric disorders, and to the families of those diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Over the last two decades, molecular genetics and brain imaging have guided efforts to find the causes of schizophrenia. It is becoming increasingly clear that many genes are involved in schizophrenia and that they interact with other factors in very complex ways, which have not yet been elucidated. Neuroimaging techniques have allowed scientists and physicians to examine brain structure, function, and chemistry in living patients with schizophrenia but results so far have been disappointing. No two patients seem to share exactly the same combination of clinical symptoms or physical findings. Yet all have the syndrome recognized as schizophrenia. The author of this accessible, well-written book argues that it is time to set aside the search for a single cause of schizophrenia and focus on the disease's final common pathway. He highlights clues from a wide range of research, including neurotransmitter, psychophysiological, and brain imaging studies. He then describes possibilities for the final common pathway at an understandable level in the context of what is already known about schizophrenia. While there are no preferred models of schizophrenia, a pattern is emerging which implicates those structures in the brain known to be important in integrating perception, cognition, and affect. A better understanding of these processes will be critical for developing more effective treatments. This book will help advance that effort. It will be of great value to psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, neuroimagers, and basic scientists working in the field of schizophrenia research, and to their students and trainees. It will also be of interest to clinicians and scientists concerned with other neuropsychiatric disorders, and to the families of those diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Michael Joel Schrift, D.O., M.A.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description:It is unfortunate that since the discovery of chlorpromazine's beneficial effect reducing psychotic symptoms there has been no significant improvement in the efficacy of treatment. We still have a paucity of knowledge regarding the mechanisms involved in the production of hallucinations, delusions, and formal thought disorder. The design of most research on schizophrenia presupposes that schizophrenia is a single disease. If dementia or mental retardation were studied that way, we would have never found the differential etiologies of those syndromes. Mind, Brain, and Schizophrenia offers a refreshing approach by emphasizing that schizophrenia represents a final common pathway due to a multitude of interacting factors involving mechanisms involved in perception, emotion, memory, and cognition. Summarizing the literature on brain imaging, genetics, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, and cognitive neuroscience, the author develops a set of testable hypotheses for understanding this devastating disorder. Written and edited by clinician-scientists, the book is a significant contribution to psychiatry.
Purpose:The purpose of the book, according to the author, is to give the reader sufficient background knowledge of neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neuronal circuitry in order to understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Audience:The intended audience includes psychiatrists, psychologists, neuroscientists, psychiatry residents, and graduate students in psychology and neuroscience.
Features:The topics covered in the 15 chapters include conceptual issues, neuronal circuits, neurodevelopmental models, neurotransmitters, neurophysiology, neuropsychological studies, structural and functional brain imaging, behavioral neuroanatomy, final common pathway models, treatment issues, and future directions in schizophrenia research. The reference section includes relevant and important citations from the literature and the index is very useful.
Assessment:This is an excellent and comprehensive new book summarizing and synthesizing current findings from multiple disciplines on research in schizophrenia. Any clinician involved in research or the care of patients with this devastating disorder should have the knowledge contained in this book. I highly recommend it.

University of Western Ontario