Reconstructing Schizophrenia

`The summaries of evidence have provided ready-made challenges to previously unquestioned medical options ... the book provides a challenging update on the nature of scientific inquiry.' - British Journal of Clinical Psychology Despite nearly one hundred years of research, very little progress has been achieved in the understanding of schizophrenic behaviour. There remains considerable uncertainty even about the fundamental features of the hypothesised illness. Reconstructing Schizophrenia subjects the difficult concept of schizophrenia to rigorous scientific, historical and sociological scrutiny. They ask why a biological defect has been assumed in the absence of hard evidence and look at what can be done psychologically to alleviate schizophrenic symptoms. Finally, they explore what new models and research strategies are required in order to understand schizophrenic behaviour. The result is a book that provides a distinctive and critical perspective on modern psychiatric theories and which demonstrates the severe limitations of an exclusively medical approach to understanding madness.

`The summaries of evidence have provided ready-made challenges to previously unquestioned medical options ... the book provides a challenging update on the nature of scientific inquiry.' - British Journal of Clinical Psychology Despite nearly one hundred years of research, very little progress has been achieved in the understanding of schizophrenic behaviour. There remains considerable uncertainty even about the fundamental features of the hypothesised illness. Reconstructing Schizophrenia subjects the difficult concept of schizophrenia to rigorous scientific, historical and sociological scrutiny. They ask why a biological defect has been assumed in the absence of hard evidence and look at what can be done psychologically to alleviate schizophrenic symptoms. Finally, they explore what new models and research strategies are required in order to understand schizophrenic behaviour. The result is a book that provides a distinctive and critical perspective on modern psychiatric theories and which demonstrates the severe limitations of an exclusively medical approach to understanding madness.

Get a fair and balanced perspective on schizophrenia! Understanding and Treating Schizophrenia: Contemporary Research, Theory, and Practice is a comprehensive overview of schizophrenia and its treatment from a variety of approaches. The book presents a balanced look at the most influential theoretical perspectives based on empirical research, clinical descriptions, and narrative histories. Dr. Glenn Shean, author of Schizophrenia: An Introduction to Research and Theory, examines neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental models of brain dysfunction, psychodynamic and family factors, up-to-date pharmacological advances, and successful community programs for discharged patients suffering from this debilitating disorder. Understanding and Treating Schizophrenia: Contemporary Research, Theory, and Practice presents a comprehensive review of evidence concerning the epidemiology and course and outcome of schizophrenia based on theoretical groupings and levels of analysis. The book examines the evolution of diagnostic criteria and guidelines, as well as stress-vulnerability and diathesis-stress models, providing critical reviews of biological, genetic, cognitive-behavioral, and phenomenological, approach to understanding and treating schizophrenia. Topics addressed in Understanding and Treating Schizophrenia: Contemporary Research, Theory, and Practice include: the history of the concept of schizophrenia the writings of Emil Kraepelin and Eugene Bleuler changes in diagnostic guidelines in the last 50 years General System Theory Perspective diagnostic and statistical manuals Schneider's first rank symptoms and much more! Understanding and Treating Schizophrenia: Contemporary Research, Theory, and Practice is an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate students working in psychology, psychiatry, nursing, social work, and social policy.

Our understanding of schizophrenia has advanced considerably over the last 10 years, particularly with regard to neurobiological and psychological factors. This book brings together disparate literature into an accessible resource.

Schizophrenia: The Positive Perspectivecounters a century-long tradition which has searched relentlessly for the critical deficits and dysfunctions in schizophrenic people. Peter Chadwick, who has himself suffered from the illness, shows that such people can demonstrate elevated creativity, empathy and social sensitivity and are by no means as irrational and misguided as is commonly thought. The author presents the fascinating case studies of some schizophrenics with whom he has worked. Using autobiography, biography, psychometric and experimental methods, he reveals areas of enhanced functioning in those vulnerable to the schizophrenia label, and argues for a much more positive picture of the schizophrenia-prone mind.

Schizophrenia continues to be the most debilitating of the psychotic disorders with less than one third returning to a 'normal' level of functioning. Our understanding of this disorder has advanced considerably over the last 10 years with major contributions from neurobiology but particularly from an understanding of the way in which psychosocial and psychological factors interact with underlying vulnerabilities to influence both the content and timing of psychotic symptoms and the personal and social difficulty they create. This book brings together this disparate and complex literature in a highly accessible and up-to-date way. It is written by two leading academic-clinical psychologists in the area who uniquely bring together an understanding of key scientific concepts with clinical reality. The section on treatment brings to the reader a clear account of psychological, social and drug treatments interspersed with clinical accounts. The text is aimed primarily at undergraduates attempting to gain some understanding of this exciting and rapidly developing field but with sufficient depth to engage the trainee clinical psychologist, community psychiatric nurse, and psychiatrist.

First published in 2002. Schizophrenia: A Scientific Delusion?, first published in 1990, made a very significant contribution to the debates on the concepts of schizophrenia and mental illness. These concepts remain both influential and controversial and this new updated second edition provides an incisive critical analysis of the debates over the last decade. As well as providing updated versions of the historical and scientific arguments against the concept of schizophrenia which formed the basis of the first edition, Boyle covers significant new material relevant to today’s debates.