Schizophrenia is one of the most complex and disabling diseases to affect mankind. Relatively little is known about its nature and its origins, and available treatments are inadequate for most patients. As a result, there are inevitable controversies about what causes it, how to diagnose it, and how best to treat it. However, in the past decade, there has been an explosion of new research, with dramatic discoveries involving genetic etiology and epidemiological risk factors. There has also been a catalog of new drugs coming to market, and controversy about the relative advantages and disadvantages of newer compared with older therapies. In addition, developing technologies in genomics, molecular biology and neuroimaging provide streams of new information. This book represents a definitive, essential, and up-to-date reference text on schizophrenia. It extensively and critically digests and clarifies recent advances and places them within a clinical context. The Editors (one American and one British), highly respected clinical psychiatrists and researchers and acknowledged experts on schizophrenia, have again assembled an outstanding group of contributors from the USA, UK, Europe and Australia, It will be of value to practising psychiatrists and to trainees, as well as to clinical and neuroscience researchers interested in keeping up with this field or coming into it. The book consists of four sections: descriptive aspects, biological aspects, physical treatments, and psychological and social aspects. It reviews the theoretical controversies over symptomatology, classification and aetiology (particularly pertinent as DSM-V is being developed), the relationship of schizophrenia to the other psychoses, the significance of positive and negative symptoms and pre-morbid personality. It describes a variety of approaches to integrating the vast research data about schizophrenia, including neurodevelopmental, genetic, pharmacological, brain imaging and psychological findings. The biological treatment section reviews the comparative efficacy of various drugs, the management of drug-resistant patients and both neurological and metabolic complications. The final section looks at psychological therapies, social outcomes, and the economics of schizophrenia. Highly Commended in the Psychiatry section of the 2012 BMA Book Awards.

When Ifirst read this manuscript, Iexclaimed to a colleague: "This is the most important and clinically relevant book on schizophrenia since Bleuler!" Time has not altered my initial enthusiastic evaluation. Drs. Strauss and Carpenter are among the most distinguished researchers in the field ofschizophrenia,butthey are also clinicians ofgreat experience, breadth, sensitivity, and flexibility. It is from this expertise, as well as theirwide familiarity with the world literature, thattheyhavebeenable to distill the essence of an exceedingly practical and comprehensive approach to the understanding, evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of schizophrenia. They begin by unequivocally stating the inadequacy and futility of approaching schizophrenia via a single model. Standingalone, neither a biomedical, a social, nor a psychological model can adequately account for the complexities of this illness with regard to etiology, phenomenol ogy, course, or optimum treatment. While the advent of psychophar macologicalinterventionhas made a profound impact on both individual treatment and the responsive support systems, and is an important aspect ofmosttreatmentplans, to view schizophrenia as a phenothiazine deficiency disease is not only bad science but bad therapeutics. Their conceptualization of an "interactive developmental systems model" provides a framework upon which to build a broad medical approach to schizophrenia. This model relates variables drawn from different systems, interactive with one another, and contributing to a pathogenetic process across time. Within this bio-social-psychological matrix, one can then organize information relative to vulnerability, the manifest illness per se, the course of the disorder, and the multiplicity of factors relative to treatment planning.

While the link between crime and schizophrenia has been noted for almost a century, it is only recently that research has provided convincing, broad-based evidence for this association. This advance in knowledge also brings with it the troublesome danger that schizophrenia patients could be doubly-stigmatised in society: they suffer from a serious mental illness and furthermore they are potentially dangerous. This understandable fear has both lead to significant resistance in accepting that the crime -- schizophrenia relationship truly exists. While well-meaning, this resistance has resulted in three unfortunate consequences. First, by not recognising that the relationship exists, the comorbid antisocial and violent behaviour of schizophrenia patients has gone unchecked, and consequently the stigma associated with this comorbidity goes on unabated. Second, research in this area has become almost fixated on the simple establishment of a link between the two conditions, and has not moved on to more important research that could help develop new perspectives on the nature of the crime -- schizophrenia relationship in a way which will significantly benefit our understanding and treatment of both conditions. Frustratingly, we actually know surprisingly little about the crime -- schizophrenia relationship. The third and more indirect consequence is that the issue of schizophrenia-spectrum disorder in antisocial criminal populations is almost entirely ignored. Such individuals literally fall between the cracks in both the mental health system and the criminal justice system. For these reasons, it is argued that ignoring or denying the crime -- schizophrenia relationship ultimately does more harm than good. The main goal of this book is to stimulate a new generation of research on the crime -- schizophrenia relationship which could benefit not just individuals with these two conditions, but also society in general. Going beyond the fundamental issue of whether there is a relationship between crime and schizophrenia, contributors to this book both outline risk factors for crime and schizophrenia and also develop hypotheses on which factors may give rise to both conditions, and hence in part explain the comorbidity issue. Furthermore, contributors go on to outlining intervention and prevention programs for not just crime and schizophrenia, but also for both conditions simultaneously. -- From the Preface

Of all mental health disorders, schizophrenia remains the most pervasive, bewildering, and resistant to treatment. In addition to its profound effect on the patient, the illness can be equally devastating to the family, a problem that is compounded by the family's frequent role as provider of primary care. Psychoeducation systematically takes into account the family's role in providing care, and the importance of supporting this system, which in turn supports the patient. It is a method of care that remains focused on the family while making use of biological, psychological, and vocational interventions. SCHIZOPHRENIA IN THE FAMILY represents the first treatment manual based on the psychoeducational model. In conjunction with maintenance chemotherapy, psychoeducation reduces the emotional intensity of the patient's environment and creates a sense of continuous care. Using illustrative case examples, this "how-to-do-it' manual demonstrates methods to: * Increase treatment compliance * Sustain patients in the community * Gradually integrate patients into familial, social, and vocational roles. Specifically, they explain how to develop a productive treatment alliance with the patient and the family, and how to share with them concrete knowledge about the illness as well as management techniques for handling its difficulties. They provide recommendations for managing the critical, early outpatient phase of treatment and suggest methods for promoting the ability to work and socialize outside the home. Additionally, they describe how to conduct the final stages of treatment, when patients may be moving into maintenance sessions, other treatment methods, or toward termination. The book concludes with a helpful chapter on training issues and the application of the psychoeducational model to other mental health systems.

Drawing on the authors' decades of influential work in the field, this highly practical volume presents an evidence-based cognitive therapy approach for clients with schizophrenia. Guidelines are provided for collaborative assessment and case formulation that enable the clinician to build a strong therapeutic relationship, establish reasonable goals, and tailor treatment to each client's needs. Described in thorough, step-by-step detail are effective techniques for working with delusional beliefs, voices, visions, thought disorders, and negative symptoms; integrating cognitive therapy with other forms of treatment; reducing relapse risks; and enhancing client motivation. Special features include reproducible client handouts and assessment tools.

The incidence of aggression and violence is of wide concern. It is therefore vital that we try to understand the mechanisms involved. This book outlines definitions and theories of aggressive behavior and points out the contribution of both biological and psychological factors. Aggression primarily occurs within an interpersonal exchange and is often accompanied by increased arousal and negative feelings. It is most likely to occur in response to provocation but individuals differ in what they consider constitutes provocation. Aggressive behavior is both multicausal and multifaceted but in order to study it, we have to break it down into components and find ways in which to measure these. This book describes a body of research examining the conditions under which the behavioral, affective and physiological components of aggression are elicited. A specific experimental technique which measures behavioral aggression in the laboratory is described. The task was found to be sensitive to individual differences in aggressive disposition. Aggression is not, however, confined to a small group of extremely hostile individuals. Alcohol or substance abuse is often associated with aggression in the general population. The results of some studies examining the effects of alcohol and Benzodiazepines on the feelings and behavior of healthy volunteers are reported. The way in which people appraise a situation influences the way they feel and behave. These drugs, therefore, impair the ability to process socially relevant information which, in turn, lowers the threshold at which aggressive behavior is likely to occur. It is only by continuing to study the complex interaction betweenpharmacological and psychological factors that we will gain more insight into the processes underlying aggressive behavior.

Individuals with schizophrenia and related disorders experience significant functioning deficits in the community. The study of social cognition in schizophrenia has grown rapidly over the past decade, and a consensus has developed among researchers that dysfunction in social cognition may contribute to the severe interpersonal problems that are a hallmark of schizophrenia. This has generated hope that treatments which improve social cognition in this illness may enhance an individual's ability to live a socially engaged and rewarding life. Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: From Evidence to Treatment provides a firm grounding in the theory and research of normal social cognition, builds on this base to describe how social cognition appears to be dysfunctional in schizophrenia, and explains how this dysfunction might be ameliorated. Composed of contributed chapters written by the top experts in the field, the volume is divided into three parts to address each of these areas. Part I, Foundations of Human Social Cognition, explores normal social cognition in childhood development, adulthood, and across cultures, as well the brain-bases of social cognition and clinical social cognition research. Part II, Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Descriptive and Experimental Research, discusses social cognition and functional outcome, emotion processing, Theory of Mind, paranoid ideation, social cognition in early psychosis, and the social cognitive neuroscience of schizophrenia. Part III, Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Treatment Approaches, focuses on findings from current treatment outcome research as well as several leading social cognitive intervention approaches-Integrated Neurocognitive Therapy (INT), Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET), Metacognitive Training (MCT), and Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT). This comprehensive, accessible volume will be invaluable to researchers studying social cognition and psychosocial treatment development in schizophrenia, clinicians working with this patient population, students in social and clinical psychology, nursing, social work and occupational therapy, and medical students.

This book comprises the conferences and discussions presented at the 4th sym posium on the SEARCH FOR THE CAUSES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA, which took place in Guaruja, Brazil, November 1998. This series of symposia started in 1986, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the University of Heidelberg, followed by two others in 1989 and 1993. From these meeting resulted three volumes that have been widely used as a reference for comprehensive reviews on the state of the art in schizophrenia research. They reflect the progresses result ing from the most relevant studies on the etiology of the disease. The spirit of the 4th "Search for the Causes" remains the same: again we gathered some of the most prominent researchers on schizophrenia to contrib ute not only with their own data, but also summing up the state of the art and the perspectives in their areas of work. The topics covered in 6 parts are Epide miology, Risk factors and antecedents, Genetics, Neuropathology and neuro chemistry, Brain imaging and function, and Treatment and rehabilitation. In this 4th volume were introduced in each topic a chapter on the "Balance of the Cen tury", to summarize what did we learn (and what we did not) in the last 100 years of schizophrenia research. We hope that this volume can help us to see how far we are in the Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia and how much further we still have to go before our problem can be solved.

The body of knowledge that we have accumulated about the causes and nature of schizophrenia is prodigious, and the repertoire of evidence-based treatments is substantial and increasing. Comprehensive Care of Schizophrenia distills this corpus into the essential information that clinicians who care for persons with schizophrenia need to know. The second edition of the popular volume is thoroughly updated, offering new information on the advances in research and management since the first edition was published a decade ago. Chapters are streamlined to keep content as concise as possible, while key sections have been revised and expanded to include new information on drug therapy and advice on patient care. People with schizophrenia can suffer from multiple morbidities and disabilities, and thus may require a variety of treatments, both pharmacological and psychosocial. To cover the complex and growing field of schizophrenia management, renowned psychiatrists Jeffrey Lieberman and Robin Murray have recruited a distinguished group of researchers, practitioners and consumers of mental health care. This guide delves into to all aspects of the clinical management of schizophrenia for both the health care professional who treats patients as well as the researcher interested in the advances made in the field and their clinical application.