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Early detection and intervention of schizophrenia: rationale and research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Thomas H. McGlashan
Thomas H. McGlashan*
Affiliation:
Yale Psychiatric Institute, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, CTO6520-8038, USA
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Abstract

Background The primary rationale for early detection and intervention in schizophrenia is the disorder's severity, chronicity and treatment resistance. This suggests that researchers pay closer attention to schizophrenia's premorbid and onset phases, when the vulnerability to psychosis becomes expressed and the neurobiological deficit processes driving symptom formation appear to be the most active.

Method We review the evidence that brain plasticity may be retained or reversed despite deficit processes.

Results The data are preliminary but suggestive enough to warrant further research.

Conclusions Overall, we need to focus on the early course of schizophrenia, detecting cases early at onset or in the prodrome, testing whether this enhances treatment response and prognosis, and predicting at-risk cases early in the prodromal phase. Designs to address these questions are presented, and relevant issues are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue S33: Verging on reality , June 1998 , pp. 3 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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