Pathologies Schizophr Niques

The Decade of the Brain has brought with it many advances in our understanding of the biology of major mental disorders. Biology of Schizophrenia and Affective Disease provides a state-of-the-art look at the biological bases of severe mental illness from the perspective of the researchers making these exceptional discoveries. In 17 chapters, some of the best investigators in the field furnish overviews of their ground-breaking findings and set course for future research efforts. From the biology of stress to excitotoxicity in the development of corticolimbic alterations in the schizophrenic brain, this outstanding reference tool explores the explosive progress in the fields of biochemistry, molecular genetics, neuroscience, and brain circuit anatomy and the resultant advances in nearly every aspect of the biology of the brain and mental illness. Dissolution of cerebral cortical mechanisms in patients with schizophrenia, linkage and molecular genetics in infantile autism, and postmortem studies of suicide victims and schizophrenic patients are among the topics covered. The book also discusses treatment issues, including the mechanisms of action of antidepressants and atypical antipsychotic drugs. Practitioners and students will find this volume an invaluable reference tool for understanding the mechanisms of normal and pathological brain function and potential areas for further insight into the biological bases of mental illness.

Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that affects 1% of the population. Its cause is due to the interaction of a number of abnormal genes with environmental factors. This book summarizes new advances schizophrenia research that focus on the field of neural and synaptic plasticity. Synapses in the brain in schizophrenia show a wide range of disorders, both structural and functional. This volume covers the most active and promising of these new developments, and opens up new avenues for the treatment of schizophrenia. * Addresses new areas of research in neurotransmitters, receptors, vitamin transport, metabolism, and signaling. * Reviews the growing field of synaptic plasticity research* Provides links with other diseases of the Central Nervous System (CNS)

Schizophrenia is one of the most complex and puzzling diseases toaffect mankind. It is the most common of the severe mentalillnesses (psychoses) with an estimated prevalence of 0.5 - 1% inthe general population and accounts for a very large portion of theday to day workload of the average psychiatrist. 50% of long-termpsychiatric patients in mental hospitals are schizophrenic. There is a great deal of controversy about the causes, diagnosisand treatment of schizophrenia with the consequence that a hugeamount of research is carried out in the field by psychiatrists,psychologists, neuroscientists and pharmacologists. For the averagepractising psychiatrist seeing schizophrenics on a regular basis,making sense of the vast body of information on the subject andfiltering out what is of clinical relevance can be very difficult.There is a constant stream of new drugs emerging and the newergeneration of drugs (the so-called atypicals) is very effective,but often expensive. The Editors (one American and one British) are both highlyrespected clinical psychiatrists who are probably the leadingexperts on schizophrenia from their respective countries andjointly have published almost 150 papers on the subject. They have brought together a strong group of contributors from theUSA, UK and Europe to produce what will be an essential referencefor the trainee and practising psychiatrist. The book consists of four sections; descriptive aspects,causative aspects, physical treatments andpsychological/behavioural/social treatments. There will bediscussion of the theoretical controversies over symptomatology,classification and aetiology, the relationship of schizophrenia tothe other psychoses, the significance of positive and negativesymptoms and pre-morbid personality. There will be chapters onorganic models of schiziophrenia, neurodevelopmental, genetic andstructural studies and the role of high-expressed emotion. Thefinal section will cover social and environmental treatment, therole of the families of schizophrenics and the psychoanalyticaltherapies. There is a new chapter on the patient's perspectivewritten by a former patient.

This new volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology presents a comprehensive review of the fundamental science and clinical treatment of psychiatric disorders. Advances in neuroscience have allowed for dramatic advances in the understanding of psychiatric disorders and treatment. Brain disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, are the leading cause of disability worldwide. It is estimated that over 25% of the adult population in North America are diagnosed yearly with at least one mental disorder and similar results hold for Europe. Now that neurology and psychiatry agree that all mental disorders are in fact, "brain diseases," this volume provides a foundational introduction to the science defining these disorders and details best practices for psychiatric treatment. Provides a comprehensive review of the scientific foundations of psychiatric disorders and psychiatric treatment Includes detailed results from genetics, molecular biology, brain imaging, and neuropathological, immunological, epidemiological, metabolic, therapeutic and historical aspects of the major psychiatric disorders A "must have" reference and resource for neuroscientists, neurologists, psychiatrists, and clinical psychologists as well as all research scientists investigating disorders of the brain