research paper topics on schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia articles from across Nature Portfolio

Schizophrenia is a severe and debilitating psychiatric disorder that involves psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, accompanied with regressive behaviour.

Support for network theories of schizophrenia

A computational neuroimaging study has shed new light on the relationship between morphological changes in the brain in schizophrenia and the network architecture of the brain, providing evidence to support two network theories of the disorder.

• Martijn P. van den Heuvel
• Sara L. Seoane

Latest Research and Reviews

Multimodal workflows optimally predict response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with schizophrenia: a multisite machine learning analysis

• Mark Sen Dong
• Jaroslav Rokicki
• Nikolaos Koutsouleris

Common risk alleles for schizophrenia within the major histocompatibility complex predict white matter microstructure

• Xavier Caseras
• Emily Simmonds
• Valentina Escott-Price

Association of cytokines levels, psychopathology and cognition among CR-TRS patients with metabolic syndrome

• Yeqing Dong
• Minghuan Zhu

Racial disparities with PRN medication usage in inpatient psychiatric treatment

• Areef S. Kassam
• Peter Karalis
• E. Ann Cunningham

Robust and replicable functional brain signatures of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and associated psychosis: a deep neural network-based multi-cohort study

• Kaustubh Supekar
• Carlo de los Angeles
• Vinod Menon

Variations to plasma H 2 O 2 levels and TAC in chronical medicated and treatment-resistant male schizophrenia patients: Correlations with psychopathology

• Haidong Yang
• Xiaobin Zhang

News and Comment

The relationship between prefrontal cortex gray matter volume and subcortical dopamine release - an addendum

• Matthäus Willeit
• Ulrich Sauerzopf
• Ana Weidenauer

Advancing understanding of the mechanisms of antipsychotic-associated cognitive impairment to minimise harm: a call to action

• Kelly Allott
• Sidhant Chopra
• Scott Richard Clark

Newly identified structures of trace-amine associated receptor-1 (TAAR1) will aid discovery of next generation neuropsychiatric drugs

• Pramod C. Nair
• Britto Shajan
• Tarun Bastiampillai

Functional dissection of schizophrenia risk variants

• Tiago Faial

Evidence-based clinical care and policy making for schizophrenia

Two recent studies leverage the same French population-based disease registry to describe real-world medication prescription patterns, patient characteristics and treatment effectiveness in people with schizophrenia. These studies also identify disparities in the health care and outcomes of these individuals compared with those of the general population.

• Marco Solmi
• Christoph U. Correll

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30 schizophrenia research topics, rachel r.n..

• September 9, 2022
• Essay Topics and Ideas

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although there is no cure for schizophrenia, it can be treated with medication, therapy, and support. In this article, we will provide an overview of some current research topics in schizophrenia.

What You'll Learn

Thirty Schizophrenia Research Topics

1. The causes of schizophrenia. 2. The symptoms of schizophrenia. 3. The relationship between schizophrenia and creativity. 4. The link between schizophrenia and violence. 5. The role of genetics in schizophrenia. 6. The role of the environment in schizophrenia. 7. The prevalence of schizophrenia in different cultures. 8. The impact of schizophrenia on the family. 9. The economic cost of schizophrenia. 10. The treatment options for schizophrenia. 11. The effectiveness of medication for treating schizophrenia. 12. Alternative treatments for schizophrenia. 13..The challenges of living with schizophrenia. 14..How to cope with the symptoms of schizophrenia 

15..The role of support groups in managing schizophrenia 16. The importance of early diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia 17. The long-term outlook for people with schizophrenia 18. The impact of schizophrenia on employment 19. The effect of schizophrenia on relationships 20. Having a baby when you have schizophrenia21. Parenting with schizophrenia 22. Schizophrenia and substance abuse 23. Schizophrenia and self-harm 24. Schizophrenia and suicide 25. The role of the media in reporting on schizophrenia 26. The use of service user involvement in mental health research 27. The experiences of people from black and minority ethnic groups with schizophrenia 28. The experiences of carers of people with schizophrenia 29. Improving access to services for people with schizophrenia 30. Developing new treatments for schizophrenia

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183 Schizophrenia Essay Topics & Examples

Welcome to our list of schizophrenia essay topics! Here, you will discover the most interesting research topics on schizophrenia, project ideas to write about, and titles for argumentative papers. Check them out below!

🔝 Top 10 Schizophrenia Research Topics for 2024

🏆 best schizophrenia topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on schizophrenia, ⭐ simple & catchy schizophrenia titles, 💡 interesting topics research topics on schizophrenia, ❓ research questions about schizophrenia, 🎓 schizophrenia research questions for dissertations, ✅ schizophrenia project ideas for students.

• Brain Abnormalities in Schizophrenia
• Risk Factors of Adolescent Schizophrenia
• Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia Patients
• Family Support in Schizophrenia Management
• Ways of Enhancing Social Skills in Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia and Comorbid Medical Conditions
• Early Detection and Intervention in Schizophrenia
• Genetic and Environmental Factors in Schizophrenia
• The Relationship between Schizophrenia and Substance Use
• Efficacy of Antipsychotic Medicines and Side Effects
• Schizophrenia: An Informative View It discusses the symptoms of the disorder, the cause, and the impact it has on both the individual suffering from it and the people surrounding the victim, both within and outside the family unit.
• Schizophrenia in The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks Nevertheless, in college, Saks faced stress due to the need to study, communicate, and care about herself and was left without the support of the Center, which led to the first episode of acute psychosis.
• Schizophrenia Explained by “A Beautiful Mind” It is a disease which can emotionally devastate the [patient as well as the relatives and the loved ones of the patient causes the patients to have hallucinations as well as delusions and even in […]
• The Movie “A Beautiful Mind” and Display of Schizophrenia This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the movie A Beautiful Mind to ascertain its display of schizophrenia as well as societal and cultural attitudes towards the disorder.
• Freud’s Psychoanalysis for Schizophrenia Patients In this paper, the author’s approaches to this ailment are considered, and the ways of applying the specific observations of human behavior are discussed. Freud’s contribution to the development of psychoanalysis is significant, and his […]
• Schizophrenia in ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Film The main symptom of a schizophrenic patient depicted in the film is the patient’s inability to distinguish between the real world and the subconscious pattern created within the imaginations of his mind.
• Schizophrenia: Case Analysis Paper The purpose is to inform the reader about a comprehensive case study with a schizophrenia diagnosis and the rationale for a nursing care plan.
• Paranoid Schizophrenia in “A Beautiful Mind” The film A Beautiful Mind depicts the impact of progressive paranoid schizophrenia on the mathematician John Nash and the burden that it places on social and personal relationships.
• A Beautiful Mind: Understanding Schizophrenia and Its Impact on the Individual and the Family The psychological disorder presented in the movie refer to one of the most common of schizophrenia paranoia. The disorder, however, is still subjected to experimental treatments by means of medications and psychotherapy.
• Schizophrenia: Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches A detailed analysis of the factors that affect the patient’s condition, including the internal and the external ones, must be mentioned as one of the essential strengths of the studies that have been conducted on […]
• Schizophrenia Patients Using Atypical Medication The research procedure follows a timed experiment with several trials beginning with a fixation point displayed in the middle of the black rectangle. A participant’s task is to identify accurate locations of the stimuli after […]
• Schizophrenia and Its Effects on the Brain This shows that functional variations are not a product of long consequences of the condition or therapy for the disorder, just like the structural alterations in gray matter and white matter.
• Negative versus Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a condition that hinders the ability of a person to think, feel, and act. In Schizophrenia, a decrease or absence of normal motivational and interest-related behaviors or expressions are referred to as negative […]
• The Brief Psychotic Disorder, Schizophreniform Disorder, and Schizophrenia People with “delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized behavior, with a return to normal functioning over a short time span” are diagnosed with a brief psychotic disorder.
• Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder He is calm and cooperative. There is no evidence of any suicidal or homicidal ideation, and he denies them as well.
• Schizophrenia: Causes and Symptoms People with this condition can live full lives and perform independently because of the accessibility of medicine, counseling, and support. Additionally, the ideal way to perceive Schizophrenia is when it is promptly diagnosed and treated.
• Schizophrenia: Neurochemical Theories and Medications The dopamine theory regarding schizophrenia, the serotonin theory of depression, and the glutamate theory will get discussed in detail in this paper. The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia holds that the overall neurotransmitters associated with dopamine […]
• Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Portrayal in Mass Media Thus, the portrayal of the disorder in the media is the mix of symptoms that belong to bipolar I and II disorders in the textbook.
• Indian, Chinese, and American Approaches to Treating Schizophrenia Thus, the perception of mental illnesses in Chinese traditional medicine should be discussed it will benefit the patients and reduce the destructive effects such disorders as schizophrenia may have on one’s life.
• Health Information: Schizophrenia The critical components that I used to evaluate the sites are the owners, mission, references, and information review. The benefits of WebMD are that it mentions the author’s name and the person who medically reviewed […]
• Schizophrenia Spectrum and Psychosis Disorders Management The psychopharmacology of risperidone shows the correlation between the drug’s impact on the brain and the behavior of patients. The FDA addresses the management of risperidone based on its class and its mechanism of action.
• The Current Concept of Schizophrenia Is Neither Valid and Useful The primary research question is ‘Is the current concept of schizophrenia valid and useful?’ Hence, it is crucial to evaluate the empirical basis to answer the question and discuss the alternative system.
• Plan for Management of Patient with Schizophrenia and Heart Disease About 1% of the world’s population suffers from schizophrenia About 0. 7% of the UK population suffers from schizophrenia Schizophrenia can manifest any time from early adulthood onwards, but rarely when a person is below […]
• Quality of Life With Schizophrenia The main difference between the former and new guidelines in patients’ professional and personal life will only be that people with schizophrenia will have to consider the symptoms of their illness and maintain a distance […]
• Schizophrenia: The Etiology Analysis Disrupted epigenomic regulation in response to environmental triggers leads to decreased brain function and the onset of schizophrenia. The Khavari & Cairns, article focuses on the epigenomic factors that contribute to the development of the […]
• Schizophrenia as a Chronic Mental Disorder The first signs of the disease began to appear at the age of 28, which, according to his friend, coincided with the patient’s loss of a loved one.
• Schizophrenia and Its Effects on the Lives of Patients Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects the lives of patients diagnosed with the condition on multiple levels, as evident from the individual in question.
• Schizophrenia Diagnostics and Its Challenges In addition to the core symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, or persistent disorganized speech, schizophrenia may be manifested through psychosis, which accounts for the majority of acute admissions to the inpatient setting.
• Schizophrenia: Symptoms and Therapy Schizophrenia is a complex condition involving a number of cognitive, behavioral and emotional symptoms, all of which can present differently depending on the person. In addition, there are a number of symptoms that can help […]
• Schizophrenia Disorder: Definition, Treatment, and Medication Schizophrenia is linked to anatomical and functional alterations in the pallium, the layer of the unmyelinated neurons, as well as variations in the networks in the middle of cortical areas.
• Schizophrenia: Cause, Consequence, Care Considering the assessment above, the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia can be established due to Caroline’s concerns about being a target for her social environment.
• Social Risk Factors for Schizophrenia However, genetic predisposition is not the only risk factor for psychoses in general and schizophrenia in particular. One of them is possibly social isolation, as most patients used to be somewhat reserved in their childhood […]
• Analysis of Article Related to Schizophrenia Treatment The objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety application of cannabidiol as an adjunctive treatment for patients with schizophrenia.
• Neuroscience: Schizophrenia and Neurotransmitters From the definition of neurotransmitters, it is clear that schizophrenia is caused by the irregular functioning of neurotransmitters. Physical abnormalities in the brain have been suspected to be causes of schizophrenia.
• Treatment Plan For Schizophrenia Patient Bill will fully recover and be in a position to perform the activities of the daily living on his own. Bill complies with the treatment regimen because treatment will help him recover and be in […]
• Mental Health: Analysis of Schizophrenia In the early years, signs related to the disease were said to be resulting from possession of evil spirits. The history of development in respect to mental health can be traced to antiquity.
• Paranoid Schizophrenia: Psychosocial Rehabilitation The behavior of being a social loner is reinforced by the indoor equipments that motivate his stay in the house. Barhof et al, explains that recognition of the value or importance of change is wholly […]
• Principles and Practice of Psychosocial Rehabilitation: Schizophrenia The objective of this study was to evaluate the literature accumulated so far and address the issues surrounding the principles and practice of Psychosocial Rehabilitation.
• Schizophrenia and Primary Care in Britain The illness causes distress in the form of severe suffering for the patient, his family and friends. The annual costs for care and treatment of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom in the 1990s were 397 […]
• Impact of Drug Use on Schizophrenia and Its Treatment The basis for the behaviors exhibited by schizophrenics, described in particular in the current case: paranoia, severe excitation coupled with periods of gloom and darkness, and a desire to commit suicide, are signs of drug […]
• The Schizophrenia Drugs: Lithium and Abilify Lithium overdose affects primarily two systems of the human body: the central nervous system and the kidneys since it is through the latter that the drug is excreted from the body.
• Collaborative Care in a Schizophrenia Scenario For example, the social worker will be in a position to emphasize the human dimensions of the problem, such as Simon’s preferences and social aspirations.
• Alcoholism and Schizophrenia: Interconnection In addition to its physical effects on the chronic drinker’s body, alcohol is associated with a variety of mental impairments. Alcoholic dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome are among the most prominent concerns in the matter. The former is a blanket term for a variety of cognitive deficiencies caused by the substance. The latter is a two-stage […]
• “Schizophrenia: A Sibling’s Tale” by Stephan Kirby The primary purpose of this article seems to inform the readers about the effective strategies that can be implemented in order to help the families of the affected people to go through a number of […]
• Schizophrenia and Workplace Behaviors Besides, their condition and performance at work may be significantly improved in case of a proper help from the company’s leadership.
• Schizophrenia and Health Strategy Proposal The use of qualitative analysis is thus justified, since the amount of detail and quality of information required would only be provided using this method.
• Schizophrenia and Biological Therapeutic Approach The level of social stigma associated with this condition has been identified as a major obstacle to the recovery of patients from this condition.
• Schizophrenia: An Abnormal Human Behavior Despite there not being a cure for the disorder as yet, there are current treatments available and meant to eliminate the majority of symptoms associated with the disorder thus enabling such individuals to live healthy […]
• Schizophrenia & Neurosis and Lifespan Development The learning objectives are to comprehend worrying conduct in the scope of the growth missions, series, and procedures that show human development.
• Schizophrenia Diagnostic Assessment As is mentioned above, the client does not understand or is not able to see the original appearance of objects and people around her.
• Analyzing Psychological Disorders: Schizophrenia Nevertheless, the damage to the brain as a result of this disorder seems to target two main areas: the frontal lobe, and the parietal cortex.
• Schizophrenia Study and Rehabilitation Outcome In fact, the results of this prospective study can reasonably be projected to the universe of Germans with mental disorders only if Rehabilitation Psychisch Kranker in the city of Halle is a kind of secondary […]
• Theme of Schizophrenia in “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut The Tralfamadorian subplot includes a vision of the end of the world and the perpetuation of war, but these seem distant threats compared with the miseries of battlefield.
• Schizophrenia in Adults: Causes, Diagnosis, and Management Among the usual characteristics of schizophrenia is low motivation; which consequently makes the victim withdraw from other members of the society.”Although studies have shown that, women are equally likely to develop the mental disorder as […]
• Schizophrenia Causes, Symptoms, and Risk Factors This paper aims to research and analyze the causes, symptoms and the risk factors associated with the mental disease and discuss some of the prevention measures of the disease.
• Haldol and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia Very often this disease is treated with the help of haloperidol, a kind of injection used as a medicine against brain disorders and psychotic states.
• Schizophrenia: The Role of Family and Effect on the Relations The role of family members and other social support is essential and form part of the management of this illness. The illness causes the others in the family to have stress.
• Schizophrenia as a Common Mental Disorder Before a patient is diagnosed to have schizophrenia, the person must have two or more of the following symptoms for at least a month according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth […]
• Delusional “Pseudotranssexualism” in Schizophrenia But it was in the middle of the twentieth century that the name transsexualism was fixed for this disorder for the first time by Cauldwell and after a few years Benjamin in the US and […]
• Schizophrenia Symptoms, Etiology, and Treatment The treatment as well as the prognosis for recovery is highly dependent on the stage in which schizophrenia is diagnosed and the age of first onset.
• Schizophrenia Causes and Treatment Analysis There exist several theories about the causes of schizophrenia, the most convincing of them are: the theory of genetic predispositions, the theory of prenatal or vital antecedents and the theory of social and environmental causes.
• Schizophrenia: Characteristics, Types and Symptoms This disease is a type of brain disease which if remain unnoticed affects the entire personality and life of the patient.
• Schizophrenia: Biological & Environmental Causes The indications of schizophrenia are varied but the results are the same, causing a breakdown of individuality and the consequent inability of the personage to purpose in reality.
• Schizophrenia and Its Special Symptoms Talking to the patients in a way that could enhance their hopes in life and activities they usually engage in is one way of reducing patients’ overwhelmed, as well as keeping them with the hope […]
• Can Cannabis Cause Schizophrenia? Regarding this assignment, I am going to address the importance of this topic in the field of addiction and healthcare, assessing the research that suggests that cannabis plays a role in schizophrenia and the strengths […]
• People With Schizophrenia Diagnosis in Prisons As a result, the behavior of the individuals with the condition is a threat to the members of the family and the society.
• Schizophrenia Symptoms and Treatment Complications Schizophrenia is one of the most complex examples of these disorders because it leads to the inability to live independently and hold a job.
• Schizophrenia: History and Diagnosis The process of diagnosing involves a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s symptoms, in which a specialist searches for the symptoms of schizophrenia and other disorders, which need to be ruled out for the diagnosis to […]
• Schizophrenia Diagnosis, Planning and Treatment Peter is 18 years old He lives at home with his parents. The patient has gained 20 pounds without any diet changes His glucose is at 145 He has not been taking his Olanzapine […]
• Schizophrenia Research: Ethical Principles and Steps The issue of beneficence is also put into consideration to ensure the research is done to improve the well being of the subjects and the society at large.
• Prevention of Suicide in People with Schizophrenia As a strategy to prevent suicide in schizophrenic patients, the drugs are aimed at controlling the symptoms associated with the condition.
• Readmissions in Schizophrenia and Reduction Methods After this, the regression model will be developed applying the variables associated with predictors of readmission and the dichotomous variable as the outcome.
• Schizophrenia Therapy: “People Matter” by Marley The study indicates how the targeted respondents supported the “use of different interpersonal interactions towards reducing the symptoms associated with schizophrenia”. This author supports the use of interpersonal interactions in every patient with schizophrenia.
• Schizophrenia Effects on Patient Development This essay explores schizophrenia in a bid to understand what it really is, how it affects the development and relational abilities of its victims, and why these effects qualify it as a mental disorder.
• Courtesy Stigma: Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients The quota sampling method was used in the research survey. In regards to the analytic strategy, the inductive formation of categories was used to analyze the transcripts.
• Schizophrenia Symptomatology and Misdiagnosis Although it was previously believed that the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia in men and women were approximately the same, newer studies point out that the use of more restrictive criteria for diagnosis results in […]
• Schizophrenia and Cognitive Therapy Interventions The onset of the mental disorder usually occurs in the first half of life; however, many episodes of schizophrenia have been registered beyond the age of 60 years.
• Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents It is acknowledged by the researchers that the symptoms indicate the possibility of bipolar disease and not schizophrenia. Psychiatric and physiological factors, among others, contribute to the prevalence of self-harm in children and young people.
• Schizophrenia Drugs’ Mechanism of Action In the case of M.Y.is can be useful to prescribe a second-generation antipsychotic, and if it proves to be ineffective, clozapine can be used.
• Schizophrenia Treatment: 25-Year-Old Male Patient The symptom of social isolation also contributes to the development of schizophrenia in Mr. Dashiell to identify the cause of the condition.
• Schizophrenia Hypothesis and Treatment The dopamine theory hypothesizes that the activation of post-synaptic dopamine receptors in the mesolimbic pathway of the brain increases dopaminergic activity, resulting in positive symptoms delusions and hallucinations.
• The Diagnostic Concept of Schizophrenia Cultural and historical contexts have largely influenced the perception of this mental disorder, and the assessment of this disease and its features in different cultures is not the same.
• Schizophrenia in Young Men and Women Thus, the research of the problem among the young people is the primary task. The feelings of people with schizophrenia are contradictory and uncertain.
• Paranoid Schizophrenia in “A Beautiful Mind” Movie John Nash is the protagonist in the movie, A Beautiful Mind. The movie did a good job of depicting the disorder in John Nash.
• Schizophrenia, Ethical and Multicultural Issues For instance, the assumption that the absence of evidence implies the same outcomes as the actual absence of the disorder symptoms often hinders the process of determining and addressing schizophrenia in patients.
• Schizophrenia, Its Symptoms, Prevalence, Causes Noteworthy, hallucinations and delusions are reflections of the distortions of the human mind, which in turn causes distortions of the person’s perceptions and interpretations of reality.
• Pharmacological & Psychotherapeutic Schizophrenia Interventions The use of clozapine is a medical intervention that targets the biological functioning of patients by blocking serotonin receptors and thus bringing about the release of dopamine receptors in specific parts of the brain.
• Schizophrenia Effects on Patient, Caregiver, Society The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects of schizophrenia on the victim, caregiver, as well as the society.
• Schizophrenia and the Reduction of Readmissions Thus, this research will be rather useful because it will discuss the effectiveness of self-management programs for people with schizophrenia and their influence on the reduction of readmissions.
• Self-Management Programs for Schizophrenia Therefore, the significance of the problem that is reviewed in this paper consists in the fact that the approaches to the treatment of schizophrenia can be optimized.
• Schizophrenia and Frequent Readmission Rates This literature review is focused on the exploration of self-management programs for patients with schizophrenia and their effectiveness in terms of the reduction readmission rates and the overall management of the condition.
• Schizophrenia and Its Functional Limitation The situation advances in severity with the age of the patient. This condition may affect work, social, training, and interpersonal relations and skills among people with the schizophrenia condition.
• Schizophrenia and Self-Management Programs In order to collect the data for further analysis that will help to answer the defined research question, it will be necessary to conduct the study allowing the researchers to track changes in behavior and […]
• Schizophrenia Readmissions Reduction: Data Analysis A simple random sampling technique will be used to select participants, and it implies that each respondent will be randomly chosen to take part in the study to avoid bias and ensure the validity of […]
• Readmission Rates in Schizophrenia Patients The purpose of this paper is to propose a research analyzing the frequency of admission rates among patients with schizophrenia treated with long-acting injectable antipsychotics or with oral antipsychotics.
• Eating Disorders, Insomnia, and Schizophrenia Of course, this readiness does not exclude the necessity to identify such people and provide the necessary treatment to them, which is proved to be effective.
• Schizophrenia as an Extreme Form of Schizotypy The use of Meehl’s model to expose extreme forms of schizotypy as a manifestation of schizophrenia also informs the findings of this paper. Nonetheless, the similarities between schizophrenia and schizotypy do not show that one […]
• Schizophrenia: Psychiatric Evaluation and Treatment Plan The purpose of this paper is to examine the symptoms characteristic for Oscar in order to determine whether it is necessary to conduct the psychiatric evaluation for the young man and propose the plan of […]
• Schizophrenia – Mental Health Disorder The neurotransmitters at the ending of the nerve cells transmit messages from one area to another nerve cell in the body.
• Schizophrenia: Symptoms and Treatment The positive symptoms of the disease incorporate hallucinations associated with hearing, illusions, and disordered language and behavior. The symptoms of schizophrenia captured in the DSM IV TR includes illusions, hallucinations, and disordered language.
• Undifferentiated Schizophrenia: Sally’s Case Sally could have inherited some patterns of the disease from her maternal grandfather and her mother’s continued smoking patterns and flu during her pregnancy.
• Schizophrenia Patients Biochemical and Behavioral Changes It is also important to note that microscopic studies on the tissues of brain have shown slight variations in the number of cells of the brain and their distribution patterns. Biochemical changes in the brain […]
• Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorder For example, a range of scholars have attempted to identify schizophrenia and the delusional disorder as phenomena. Therefore, the instances of delirium must be viewed as possible indicators of schizophrenia.
• Psychiatric Issues: Schizophrenia’s Demystify The web is an internet community that is dedicated to the provision of high-quality data, elucidation, and assistance to the kin, providers, and persons that have been impacted by the condition.
• Non-Clinical Indicators in Patients with Schizophrenia The collaboration between the clinicians and the family is beneficial to the patient especially in administering the daily routines of the patient.
• Schizophrenia: Pathophysiology and Treatment The treatment methods commonly in the application are based on a clinical research that has been conducted on the disease as well as on the experience of the physician on the treatment of the disease.
• Schizophrenia: Description, Development and Treatment According to Van Dyke, schizophrenia begins to develop in the early adulthood years of the victim from the age of 15 to 30 years.
• A Critical Examination of the Link between Nicotine Dependence and Schizophrenia Over the years, there have been strong indications that heavy cigarette smoking can be linked to schizophrenia and that smoking may have a connection to the neurobiology of schizophrenic illness.
• Schizophrenia Genetic and Environmental Factors The research paper explores schizophrenia by providing a general overview, a comprehensive discussion of clinical synopsis, genetics and environmental factors in relation to schizophrenia, limitations of the methods of analyses, and a clear demonstration of […]
• Childhood Schizophrenia: Causes and Management of This Mental Disorder Hardman et al.are of the view that the risk of a child suffering from this condition is one percent when there are no recorded cases of the condition in the family.
• Dimensional Approaches to Schizophrenia and their Inclusion in the DSM-V The inclusion of the dimensional diagnosis of schizophrenia and other disorders to DSM-V will help to avoid some of the problems that are currently faced by the system.
• Smoking as Activity Enhancer: Schizophrenia and Gender Once learning the effects which nicotine has on people’s health and the relation between gender and schizophrenia, one can possibly find the ways to prevent the latter and to protect the people in the high-risk […]
• Clinical and Neuropsychological Characteristics in Subjects With Schizophrenia The need to understand the complex interplay between a number of variables, including genetics, environmental factors, clinical, psychological and social processes, in the development of brain disorders and the resultant behavioural and cognitive deficiencies informed […]
• Psychological Classification of Schizophrenia The paper is composed of a matrix that gives detailed information on the major DSM IV-TR categories of schizophrenia and psychosis, and lifespan development as well as the various classifications of schizophrenia and psychosis, and […]
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Schizophrenia The basic idea in cognitive therapy is the fact that the cognitive aspect of esteem, the way we perceive problems, the world, and other mundane aspects of life like expectations and beliefs are chief determinants […]
• Schizophrenia a Psychological Disorder The main purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between Schizophrenia and reading impairments that are usually experienced by individuals when assessed in terms of Oculomotor Control and phonological Processing The research […]
• Homelessness and Schizophrenia It is essential to consider that lack of a proper home can exert pressure in an individual, to the extent of mental burdening.
• Should Persons Suffering From Schizophrenia Be Forced to Take Medications? Though many studies have pointed out that its causes are poorly understood, Dora is of the view that it results from the interplay of the immediate environment that a person is exposed to and the […]
• Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Genetically, an alteration in the serotonin, dopamine and glutamate genes may be the cause of the disease. Therefore, the close interactions of genetic, psychological and environmental factors lead to severe cases of bipolar disorder.
• Schizophrenia, Psychosis and Lifespan Development Schizophrenia is a complicated condition not only due to its nature but also due to the fact that it results from a wide range of factors.
• Diagnosis and Treatment of the Schizophrenia The prevalence rate of the disease is around 1% in the whole world and despite the fact that its rate is higher among the poor; there is no much difference from one culture to another. […]
• Physical Health and Its Relations to Schizophrenia Smith is the fact that the disease got him at a time in life when he wanted to settle in marriage and due to the changes brought about by the mental disorder, he lost his […]
• Neurological Disorder: Effects of Schizophrenia on the Brain and Behavior Furthermore, as identified earlier, the neurological basis of the disorder may also involve abnormalities in the structure of the forebrain, the hindbrain and the limbic system.
• What Makes Schizophrenia One of the Worst Mental Illnesses?
• Are Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Neuroanatomically Distinct?
• What Predicts Stigmatization About Schizophrenia?
• How and Why Affective and Reactive Virtual Agents Will Bring New Insights on Social Cognitive Disorders in Schizophrenia?
• What Do Visual Illusions Teach Us About Schizophrenia?
• Can Neurostimulation Prevent the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Elderly Individuals With Schizophrenia?
• How Can Nurses Deal With a Patient With Paranoid Schizophrenia?
• What Is Connection Between Schizophrenia and Social Isolation?
• Are Continuum Beliefs About Psychotic Symptoms Associated With Stereotypes About Schizophrenia?
• What Is the Link Between Drug Addiction and Underdiagnosed Schizophrenia?
• How Does Gray Matter Effect Schizophrenia and Bipolar?
• What Is Schizophrenia Disorder?
• Can N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Hypofunction in Schizophrenia Be Localized to an Individual Cell Type?
• How Should People With Schizophrenia Be Treat?
• Are Patients With Schizophrenia Impaired in Processing Non-emotional Features of Human Faces?
• How Does Schizophrenia Affect Development and Aging?
• Did Andrea Yates Have Schizophrenia?
• How Does Schizophrenia Affect the Lifespan?
• Are Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders More Prone to Manifest Nocebo-Like-Effects?
• How Does the Environment Influence Schizophrenia and Possible Prevention?
• Does Co-morbid Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Modify the Abnormal Language Processing in Schizophrenia Patients?
• How Will the Mild Encephalitis Hypothesis of Schizophrenia Influence Stigmatization?
• Are People With Schizophrenia Dangerous and Unpredictable?
• Does Non-adherence Increase Treatment Costs in Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Major Main Barriers to Treatment of Schizophrenia?
• Is Schizophrenia an Incurable Mental Illness?
• How Do Genetic Factors Contribute to the Development of Schizophrenia?
• Is Any Particular Race More Vulnerable to Schizophrenia?
• How Does Schizophrenia Affect People Who Live In States That Opted Out of the State Healthcare Exchanges?
• Is Schizophrenia a Genetically Transmittable Illness?
• How Do Environmental Factors Contribute to the Development of Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Most Effective Pharmacological Interventions for Managing Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
• How Does Early Intervention Impact the Long-Term Outcomes of Individuals with Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Most Common Cognitive Deficits Experienced by Schizophrenia Patients?
• How Can Dual Diagnosis Treatments for Substance Use and Schizophrenia Be Optimized?
• What Are the Treatment Considerations for Managing Schizophrenia in Young Adults?
• How Can Family Psychoeducation and Support Programs Help Improve Treatment and Outcomes in Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Social Functioning Difficulties Faced by Individuals with Schizophrenia?
• How Can Holistic Care Approaches Help Address Physical Health Comorbidities Associated with Schizophrenia?
• How Can Neuroimaging and Brain Research Advancements Contribute to Our Understanding of Schizophrenia?
• A Multimedia Presentation Explaining the Neurobiological Basis of Schizophrenia
• An infographic that Educates the Public about Early Warning Signs and Symptoms of Schizophrenia.
• A Survey Assessing the Awareness and Understanding of Schizophrenia in the School Community.
• Video Simulation Demonstrating the Experiences of Individuals Living with Schizophrenia
• Plan of a Mental Health Awareness Event to Reduce the Stigma Surrounding Schizophrenia
• Research Paper on the Impact of Family Support on Improving Outcomes of Schizophrenia Patients
• Interviews with Schizophrenia Patients and Their Families
• A Classroom Presentation on the Connection Between Creativity and Schizophrenia
• Literature Review on the Effectiveness of Cognitive Remediation Interventions for Schizophrenia
• Mental Health Awareness Campaign Focused on Schizophrenia
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90 Schizophrenia Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on schizophrenia, 🔎 easy schizophrenia research paper topics, 👍 good schizophrenia research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting schizophrenia research titles, 💡 simple schizophrenia essay ideas.

• Schizophrenia in “A Beautiful Mind” Film by Howard
• Nash’s Schizophrenia in “A Beautiful Mind” Film
• Schizophrenia of John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind”
• A Mental Health Nursing Social Interventions for Patients With Schizophrenia
• Factors That Caused Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia. Abnormal Psychology
• Case Study of Schizophrenia: Symptoms, Misconceptions and Diagnosis
• Deleuze’s “A Thousand Plateaus” and Guattari’s “Capitalism and Schizophrenia” The book “A Thousand Plateaus” written by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychoanalyst Felix Guattari is the second part of the project “Capitalism and Schizophrenia”.
• Case Presentation: Schizophrenia The client’s name for this case presentation is Clara Hunters. She is a thirty-three-year-old woman. She is white and has been married for five years.
• Schizophrenia: A Comprehensive Explanation Schizophrenia is a severe concern of the modern health care system because it is highly complicated and associated with mental and physical health and reduced life expectancy.
• Schizophrenia: Definition and Symptomps Schizophrenia is one of the most prolific mental disorders that is characterized by people having an abnormal interpretation of reality.
• The Portrayal of Schizophrenia in a Beautiful Mind A Beautiful Mind by Ron Howard managed to portray the schizophrenia diagnosis accurately but not without a shred of Hollywood exaggeration.
• Schizophrenia Treatment: Biopsychological Approaches This paper is aimed at discussing schizophrenia as a mental illness from the perspective of various biopsychological approaches.
• Evaluation of the Symptoms of Schizophrenia in “A Beautiful Mind” In this study, the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder” was used to evaluate the symptoms of the main character of the movie called “A Beautiful Mind”.
• Schizophrenia: Chapters 15-16 of Psychology by Spielman et al. This research will focus on schizophrenia, a psychological disorder discussed in chapters 15 and 16 of the book Psychology by Spielman, Jenkins, and Lovett.
• Advancements in Schizophrenia Research The article’s primary goal is to review the dopamine hypothesis and study and analyze new targets invented in recent years.
• A Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Utility of Schizophrenia The paper describes how cognitive-behavioral therapies may be utilized in mental health settings to aid schizophrenic patients in overcoming mental health problems.
• Consciousness and Psychedelic Sciences in Managing Schizophrenia Behavioral management is emerging as a significant intervention in psychiatric treatment, focusing mainly on preserving order for those with clinical mental illness.
• Gender Differences in Schizophrenia The study sheds light on the gender differences in schizophrenia onset. Schizophrenia in women and men manifests itself at different ages.
• Schizophrenia Disorder Diagnosis The main reason for the patient’s visit entails experiences and behavior out of touch with reality. It is the duty of a practitioner to enhance optimal Medicare for a patient.
• Schizophrenia Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognosis This study evaluates the diagnosis of schizophrenia in a high school teenager, focusing on their background history to assert the prevalence of a different disorder.
• Variables Impacting a Patient With Schizophrenia The mother brought Demetri, her 39-year-old son previously diagnosed with schizophrenia, because of his deteriorating mental well-being.
• Medical Terminology of Treating Schizophrenia The article Clinical relevance of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly in treating schizophrenia discusses how the mentioned injectable antipsychotic (PP3M) improves non-adherence.
• Gender Differences in Development of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia has varied effects on men’s and women’s sexual life. These effects could be due to variances in the start of schizophrenia at different ages.
• Aspects of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that demands a specific response. It is vital to diagnose it by using available criteria.
• Schizophrenia in Young Women and Men Schizophrenia, according to several researches, affects both men and women. However, men show high vulnerability as the development of this disorder is concerned.
• Schizophrenia Treatment With Fluphenazine Decanoate The present paper suggests Fluphenazine Decanoate as a medicine useful for decreasing the patient’s paranoid behavior.
• Schizophrenia: Fundamentals and Possible Causes The medicinal approach involves taking drugs based on histone deacetylases, as they improve the condition of certain parts of histones’ acetylation.
• Schizophrenia: Diagnosis and Treatment The presence of signs such as hallucinations, delusions, cognitive issues, and negative symptoms is a marker of developing schizophrenia.
• Schizophrenia: Myths, Causes, and Impacts Schizophrenia is a major mental condition characterized by a combination of unusual behaviors such as hallucinations, delusion, and abnormal thinking.
• Schizophrenia: Causes and Symptoms The leading causes of the development of schizophrenia include heredity, an unfavorable environment, and negative social conditions.
• Schizophrenia and Dopamine Level It is essential to examine the role of dopamine to understand whether the level of this neurotransmitter is high or low in schizophrenia.
• Schizophrenia Depicted in “A Beautiful Mind” Film Schizophrenia affects millions of people worldwide, and one of them is John Nash, a mathematician played by Russell Crowe in the film “A Beautiful Mind” by Ron Howard.
• Schizophrenia: Diagnosis, Prevention, and Treatment Articles included in the annotated bibliography describe the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of schizophrenia.
• Schizophrenia Symptoms and Diagnosis: Patient Interview This article proposes an interview with a patient with schizophrenia, gives his reactions to the questions of the interviewer and describes the symptoms of the disease.
• Biological Strategies for Studying Schizophrenia This paper analyzes several major current approaches to studying schizophrenia. It specifically focuses on several streams of research.
• Schizophrenia as Dangerous Mental Disease Schizophrenia is a very dangerous mental disease, which affects a human mind in numerous ways. It warps a person’s perception of reality.
• Schizophrenia as the Most Challenging Psychological Disorder Despite its relatively low prevalence, schizophrenia ranks among the most impairing and debilitating psychological conditions in people
• Neuroscience of Schizophrenia: The Thinking Patterns The journey to understanding the neuroscience of schizophrenia continues, and firsthand stories like that of John Nash and Lewis continue to play a central role in this process.
• Features of Schizophrenia as Neurodegenerative Disorder This paper describes schizophrenia as a neurodegenerative disorder and tries to understand the key underlying elements linked with the clinical aspect of schizophrenia.
• Gerontology Nursing: Schizophrenia This paper discusses schizophrenia: Its definition, statistics, signs and symptoms, types, risk factors, diagnostic criteria, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.
• Schizophrenia Treatment With Approved Drug Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental disorders in the US. Treatment of schizophrenia is critical since patients stand as dangers to themselves and society.
• Schizophrenia and Folate Status Correlation The research is designed to clarify the relationship between folate status and schizophrenia with an effort to avoid methodological pitfalls during the investigation.
• The Concept of Symptoms in Schizophrenia The essay will delve into the concept of symptoms in schizophrenia and underline the implications for the patient’s treatment.
• Drugs for Treating Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders Schizophrenia and mood disorders are serious mental illnesses, which are challenging to treat. Millions of people suffer from adverse effects on all aspects of life.
• Schizophrenia Versus Schizoaffective Disorders Schizophrenia and schizoaffective are two distinct disorders, each having its way of diagnosis and treatment. However, they share almost similar psychotic characteristics.
• Schizophrenia: Causes, Symptoms, Treatments, and Myths This paper will discuss the causes and symptoms of schizophrenia, the ways of its treatment, and the myths that surround this mental illness.
• Connection Between Schizophrenia and Neurotransmitters Neurotransmitters do the visible impact on the development of schizophrenia, although it manifests when they are inflamed.
• Influence of Sexual Dysfunction and Schizophrenia on Human The paper examines the causes, problems and manifestations of mental problems that affect the physical condition of a person.
• Schizophrenia Disorder: Causes and Treatment Schizophrenia is a mental disease, which affects the thinking capacity of an individual. A considerable number of populations around the globe are affected by this disease.
• An Accurate Portrayal of Schizophrenia This paper will analyze the Schizophrenia along with its symptoms. It will also analyze an important scene in the movie “a beautiful mind” which was directed by Ron Howard.
• Schizophrenia: Non- and Pharmacological Treatment There are effective pharmacological approaches to treating Schizophrenia, such as Clozapine, and non-medical methods, such as psychoeducation.
• Understanding Mental Illness: Aspects of Schizophrenia There is a significant social stigma surrounding severe mental illness such as schizophrenia which leads to discrimination of not just the patient, but the whole family.
• Family Psychoeducation for Schizophrenia Patients This work reviews a meta-analysis on FPE conducted, focusing on the effectiveness of the educational approach in treating patients with schizophrenia and supporting their families.
• Schizophrenia in a First-Year College Student The paper studies a case of schizophrenia, which manifested in a 39-year-old woman during her first year at college in the form of prodromal symptoms, which caused her to drop out.
• Schizophrenia Features Among African American Men Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that may occur at any age. African Americans usually have severe psychotic symptoms regarding the scope and quality of hallucinations.
• Schizophrenia and QT Prolongation The paper considers the case of a 62-year-old woman with a history of psychiatric diagnoses, which indicates her predisposition to delusions.
• Schizophrenia: Approaches and Behavior It is hypothesized the symptoms of schizophrenia can be attributed to the increased dopaminergic activities in such brain areas as striatum and thalamus.
• Schizophrenia: Physiological Basis of a Mental Illness Schizophrenia is mental illness with a genetic basis and its complexity is presents in form of chronic psychosis and the cognitive ability of the individual becomes impaired.
• Psychiatry: The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a psychological condition in which patients suffer from disabling chronic mental disorders that adversely affect the normal functioning of the brain.
• Difficulties That the Person With Schizophrenia Goes Through
• Altered Cerebral Blood Flow Covariance Network in Schizophrenia
• Broader Visual Orientation Tuning in Patients With Schizophrenia
• Imaging Schizophrenia With Voxel-Based Morphometry
• Antipsychotics, Metabolic Adverse Effects, and Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia
• Chronicity and Sex Affect Genetic Risk Prediction in Schizophrenia
• Correlation Between Child Abuse and Schizophrenia
• Genetic and Environmental Factors of Schizophrenia
• Complex Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Sources of Inflammation in Schizophrenia
• Environmental and Genetic Effects and Schizophrenia
• Current Controversial Issues During Treatment of Schizophrenia
• Environmental Factors and the Development of Schizophrenia
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia
• Biological and Cognitive Approaches for the Treatment of Schizophrenia
• Antigliadin Antibodies Relation to Neurochemistry in Schizophrenia
• Considering Brexpiprazole and Its Role in Managing Schizophrenia
• Disrupted Thalamic Resting-State Functional Networks in Schizophrenia
• Demystifying Common Misconceptions About Schizophrenia
• Implementing Evidence-Based Practice With Schizophrenia
• Altered Volume and Functional Connectivity of the Habenula in Schizophrenia
• Causes and Key Symptoms of Paranoid Schizophrenia
• Definitions and Social Perceptions of Schizophrenia
• Decreasing Social Interaction Anxiety for Schizophrenia
• Identifying Modifiable Risk Factors for Relapse in Patients With Schizophrenia in China
• Family Education and Management of Schizophrenia
• Creativity and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders Across the Arts and Sciences
• Diagnosing and Treating Schizophrenia
• Drug Abuse and Schizophrenia
• Critical Diagnostic Review of Schizophrenia
• Disorganized Schizophrenia and Its Effects on Children

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These essay examples and topics on Schizophrenia were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 9, 2024 .

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Schizophrenia Research Topics

Schizophrenia essay titles, schizophrenia paper topics, schizophrenia research questions.

Schizophrenia Research Topics:   Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder. When writing research topics on Schizophrenia one has to be very careful on the topics since one should be conversant with the topic. Hope the list of schizophrenia research paper topics below will give you a starting point in writing your research paper.

1. Treatment Of People With Schizophrenia

2. The Vicious Cycle Of Schizophrenia

3. The Reality Of Schizophrenia Is A Frightening Menace

4. The Progression Of Development Of Schizophrenia

5. The Mental Illness Of Schizophrenia

6. The Mental Condition Of Schizophrenia

7. The History and Future of Schizophrenia

8. The General Psychiatric Symptoms Of Schizophrenia

9. The Enigma of Schizophrenia

10. The effect on Individuals with Schizophrenia in states that opted out of Medicaid Expansion/The State Healthcare Exchanges under The Affordable Care Act

Read: Argumentative Essay Topics about Mental Health

11. The Diagnostic Criteria Of Schizophrenia

12. The Connection Between Schizophrenia And Violence

13. The Cognitive Behavioral Aetiology Of Schizophrenia

14. The ‘Glutamate Theory’ of the Pathogenesis of Schizophrenia

15. Symptoms And Treatment Of Patients With Schizophrenia

16. Symptoms And Symptoms Of Schizophrenia

17. Schizophrenia, The Schizophrenic Mind Is Not So Much Split As Shattered

18. Schizophrenia Of Children And Adolescents

19. Schizophrenia Is A Serious Disorder

Read: Research Topics on Mental Health

1. Schizophrenia As A Psychotic Disorder

2. Schizophrenia And Treatment Of Schizophrenia

3. Schizophrenia and the Mental Health Consumer Movement

4. Schizophrenia and PET Scan Findings

5. Schizophrenia And Other Psychotic Disorders

6. Schizophrenia and Neuroplasticity

7. Schizophrenia And Its Effects On The Development Of Schizophrenia

8. Schizophrenia And Its Effects On People

9. Schizophrenia And Its Effects On Children

10. Schizophrenia and Homelessness

11. Schizophrenia and Disorder of Lifespan Development

12. Schizophrenia and Aging

13. Schizophrenia – Longitudinal Studies

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14. Schizophrenia Symptoms And Treatment Of Schizophrenia

15. Schizophrenia A Correlation Between Poverty And Schizophrenia

16. Psychotherapy as a Treatment for Schizophrenia

17. New Treatments for Schizophrenia Currently in Clinical Trials

18. Mental Health Condition Of Schizophrenia

19. Living With Schizophrenia

20. Marijuana and it’s effect on Individuals with Schizophrenia

Read: Research Project Samples for Students

1. Incidence of Schizophrenia Among Healthcare Professionals

2. Genetic Links Between Schizophrenia and Associated Co-morbid Conditions

3. Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia

4. Description and Analysis of Catatonic Schizophrenia

5. Childhood Onset Schizophrenia And Schizophrenia

6. Causes and Treatments of Schizophrenia

7. Bipolar Vs. Schizophrenia Bipolar And Schizophrenia

8. A Depth Report On Schizophrenia

Read: Narrative Essay Topics for College Students

1. Is there an Association between Schizophrenia and Intracellular Pathogens?

2. What are the positives signs of Schizophrenia?

3. Is Schizophrenia A Psychological Or Mental Disorder?

4. How to treat Schizophrenia medically?

5. What to know about Schizophrenia?

6. Is supportive therapy effective in managing Schizophrenia

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110 Schizophrenia Research Topics & Essay Examples

📝 schizophrenia research papers examples, 🏆 best schizophrenia essay titles, 🎓 simple research topics about schizophrenia, ❓ schizophrenia research questions, 📣 schizophrenia discussion questions.

• Clozapine Treatment for Paranoid Schizophrenia Clozapine would be an effective choice for Caitlyn since this medication is prescribed for individuals suffering from severe forms of schizophrenia.
• Adult Psychiatry: Schizophrenia in Quadruplets Four Genain quadruplets developed schizophrenia, but the course of the disease was different for each of them.
• Geriatric Mental Health: Dementia & Schizophrenia This paper reviews the case study of a 67-year-old patient admitted to a hospital with agitation, hallucinations, and paranoia after a medication course.
• Different Methods of Treating Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a disorder that disables the brain in a severe and chronic manner. This paper examine the different treatments of Schizophrenia and their effectiveness and side effects.
• Schizophrenia: Cause, Consequence, Care Being one of the most widespread mental disorders in terms of identifying major symptoms, schizophrenia still remains quite complicated when it comes to the etiology examination.
• Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
• Dysregulated but Not Decreased Salience Network Activity in Schizophrenia
• Treatment Intervention for Paranoid Schizophrenia
• Biological and Cognitive Approaches for the Treatment of Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia, Psychosis and Lifespan Development It can easily be assumed that schizophrenia, psychosis, and childhood and lifespan developmental disorders do not have much in common.
• Schizophrenia and Its Effects on the Way People Interpret
• Schizophrenia and Cortical Blindness: Protective Effects and Implications for Language
• Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Genetic and Neuroimaging Correlates
• Definitions and Social Perceptions of Schizophrenia
• Hippocampus and Schizophrenia Causes
• Death Penalty Mitigation Assessment The results of the assessments might be used to evaluate the defendant and obtain mitigation evidence to reduce the degree of guilt.
• Disorganized Schizophrenia and Its Effects on Children
• Disorganized Schizophrenia and Methodist Unity Point
• Schizophrenia, Substance Abuse, and Violent Crime
• Functional Connectivity Density Alterations in Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia and Its Effects on Young Children and Adolescents
• Psychological Disorders: Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a condition that severely affects person’s thought process, speech, perception of reality, emotions, and actions.
• Hispanic and Urban Black Populations and Schizophrenia
• Attention and Multisensory Integration of Emotions in Schizophrenia
• Negative Symptoms and Hypofrontality in Chronic Schizophrenia
• Resilience and Cognitive Function in Patients With Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, and Healthy Controls
• Schizophrenia and Family Interventions
• Schizophrenia and Anti-Social Personality Disorder
• White Matter Measures and Cognition in Schizophrenia
• Clinical Practice on Schizophrenia Family Work
• Neurocognitive Decrements Are Present in Intellectually Superior Schizophrenia
• Altered Cerebral Blood Flow Covariance Network in Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia and Its Effects on the Development of Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Antidepressants The variety of mental disorders may often confuse terms of disease differentiation due to the lack of proper education. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are examples of such confusion.
• Dopamine, Psychosis and Schizophrenia: The Widening Gap Between Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
• Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Schizophrenia
• Psychology: Schizophrenia and Widely Used Treatments
• Chronicity and Sex Affect Genetic Risk Prediction in Schizophrenia
• Paranoid Schizophrenia and Nursing Interventions
• Perinatal Factors and Schizophrenia
• Altered Basal Ganglia Network Integration in Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia Stigmas, Causes, and Brain Activity Differences
• Schizophrenia: Psychological and Psychiatric Views Schizophrenia is a chronic severe brain disorder characterized by altered perception and the manner of expression of reality. The effects are manifested as hearing voices.
• Antipsychotics, Metabolic Adverse Effects, and Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia
• Schizoaffective Disorder: The Bridge Between Schizophrenia and Bipolar
• Dysfunctional Brain Networks and Genetic Risk for Schizophrenia
• Demystifying Common Misconceptions About Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia and Emergency Room Costs
• Schizophrenia and Causes for This Complex and Puzzling Illness
• Antigliadin Antibodies Relation to Neurochemistry in Schizophrenia
• How Do Gray Matter Effects Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder?
• What Is the Role of Brexpiprazole in the Management of Schizophrenia?
• Can Exercise Increase Fitness and Reduce Weight in Patients With Schizophrenia and Depression?
• How Is Near Cognitive Correction for Schizophrenia Performed?
• How Does Smoking Affect Schizophrenia?
• How Can Nurses Deal With a Patient With Paranoid Schizophrenia?
• Are People With Schizophrenia Dangerous and Unpredictable?
• Are Patients With Schizophrenia Impaired in Processing Non-emotional Features of Human Faces?
• What Is the Relationship Between Schizophrenia and Crime?
• Schizophrenia and Medication Adherence and Health Care?
• Is Early Intervention Occupational Therapy Effective for Schizophrenia?
• How Will the Mild Encephalitis Hypothesis of Schizophrenia Influence Stigmatization?
• What Are the Major Main Barriers to Treatment That Someone With Schizophrenia?
• How Do Environmental Factors Affect the Development of Schizophrenia?
• How To Reduce Social Interaction Anxiety in Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Environmental and Genetic Effects of Schizophrenia?
• What Is the Diagnosis of the Etiology of Schizophrenia?
• What Is the Relationship Between Violence and Schizophrenia?
• Biological and Environmental Factors for Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Current Controversies in the Treatment of Schizophrenia?
• Non-pharmacological Interventions for Schizophrenia: How Much Can Be Achieved and How?
• How Is Schizophrenia Imaging With Voxel-based Morphometry?
• What Are the Genetic Risk Factors for Schizophrenia?
• Subjective and Objective Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia Is There a Link?
• What Is the Modified Volume and Functional Connectivity of the Habenula in Schizophrenia?
• What Are False Memories of Affective Information in Schizophrenia?
• How Schizophrenia Affects the Lifespan?
• What Mechanism Underlies Schizophrenia?
• Are Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Neuroanatomically Distinct?
• Does Non-adherence Increase Treatment Costs in Schizophrenia?
• Why Is Schizophrenia Considered a Complex and Multifaceted Disorder?
• How Do Genetic Factors Contribute to the Risk of Developing Schizophrenia?
• What Are the Subtypes of Schizophrenia?
• Are There Gender Differences in the Prevalence and Manifestation of Schizophrenia?
• At What Age Do the Symptoms of Schizophrenia Appear?
• What Are the Primary Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia, and How Do They Manifest?
• How Is Schizophrenia Diagnosed and Treated?
• Why Is the Age of Onset of Schizophrenia an Important Factor in Understanding Its Course?
• Can Electrical Stimulation Improve Cognition in People Living with Schizophrenia?
• Is It Possible to Prevent Schizophrenia?
• What Is the Relationship Between Substance Abuse and the Development of Schizophrenia?
• Can Schizophrenia Be Caused by Trauma?
• What Challenges Do Clinicians Face in Diagnosing Schizophrenia Accurately?
• What Therapy Is Best for Schizophrenia?
• Does Schizophrenia Get Worse with Age?
• What Role Do Psychosocial Interventions Play in the Overall Treatment of Schizophrenia?
• Can Schizophrenia Be Treated Without Medication?
• Are Antipsychotic Medications Effective in Addressing the Symptoms of Schizophrenia?
• Can Schizophrenia Cause Memory Loss?
• How Does Schizophrenia Impact Family Dynamics and Relationships?
• Can a Blood Test Detect Schizophrenia?
• What Ethical Considerations Arise in the Treatment of Individuals with Schizophrenia?
• Can Brain Surgery Cure Schizophrenia?
• How Do Cultural Factors Influence the Experience and Perception of Schizophrenia?
• Does Schizophrenia Cause Brain Damage?
• Is There a Correlation Between Schizophrenia and Violent Behavior?
• Why Is Schizophrenia More Common in Males?
• How Does Schizophrenia Impact Employment and an Individual’s Ability to Maintain Work?
• What Is the Latest Treatment for Schizophrenia?
• Why Are Peer Support Programs Valuable for Individuals Living With Schizophrenia?

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Schizophrenia Research Paper

This sample schizophrenia research paper features: 6600 words (approx. 22 pages), an outline, and a bibliography with 6 sources. Browse other research paper examples for more inspiration. If you need a thorough research paper written according to all the academic standards, you can always turn to our experienced writers for help. This is how your paper can get an A! Feel free to contact our writing service for professional assistance. We offer high-quality assignments for reasonable rates.

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by disturbances in thought, emotion, and behavior. This research paper discusses the symptoms, etiology, treatment, and other pertinent issues concerning this mental illness.

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Get 10% off with 24start discount code, i. description and classification, a. symptoms, 1. delusions, 2. hallucinations, 3. disorganized speech, 4. disorganized or catatonic behavior, 5. negative symptoms, b. variability of symptoms among patients, c. subtypes of schizophrenia, ii. history, iii. demographic characteristics of schizophrenia, a. sex differences, b. social class differences, iv. life functioning and prognosis, a. long-term course, b. premorbid characteristics of schizophrenia, v. etiology: theories and research findings, a. brain abnormalities in schizophrenia, b. biochemical factors, c. genetics, d. obstetrical complications, e. viral infection, f. diathesis-stress model, vi. treatment and therapy, a. antipsychotic medication, b. psychological treatment, vii. summary.

Delusions are the primary example of abnormal thought content in schizophrenia. Delusional beliefs conflict with reality and are tenaciously held, despite evidence to the contrary. There are several types of delusions. Delusions of control is the belief that one is being manipulated by an external force, often a powerful individual or organization (e.g., the FBI) that has malevolent intent. Delusions of grancleur refers to patients’ beliefs that they are especially important and have unique qualities or powers (e.g., the capacity to influence weather conditions). In contrast, some patients express the conviction that they are victims of persecution or an organized plot, and these beliefs are referred to as delusions of persecution. Examples of more specific delusions include thought broadcasting, the patient’s belief that his or her thoughts are transmitted so that others know them, and thought withdrawal, the belief that an external force has stolen one’s thoughts.

Hallucinations are among the most subjectively distressing symptoms experienced by schizophrenia patients. These perceptual distortions vary among patients and can be auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile. The majority of hallucinations are auditory in nature and typically involve voices. Examples include the patient hearing someone threatening or chastising him or her, a voice repeating the patient’s own thoughts, two or more voices arguing, and voices commenting. The second most common form of hallucination is visual. Visual hallucinations often entail the perception of distortions in the physical environment, especially in the faces and bodies of other people.

Other perceptual distortions that are commonly reported by schizophrenia patients include feeling as if parts of the body are distorted in size or shape, feeling as if an object is closer or farther away than it actually is, feeling numbness, tingling, or burning, being hypersensitive to sensory stimuli, and perceiving objects as flat and colorless. In addition to these distinctive perceptual abnormalities, persons suffering from schizophrenia often report difficulties in focusing their attention or sustaining concentration on a task.

It is important to note that in order for an unsubstantiated belief or sensory experience to quality as a delusion or hallucination, the individual must experience it within a clear sensorium (e.g., unsubstantiated sensory experiences that occur only upon awaking from sleep or when falling asleep would not qualify as delusions). Thus, for example, if a patient reports hearing something that sounds like voices when alone, but adds that he or she is certain that this is a misinterpretation of a sound, such as the wind blowing leaves, this would not constitute an auditory hallucination.

The DSM uses the term disorganized speech to refer to abnormalities in the form or content of the individual’s verbalizations. It is assumed that these abnormalities reflect underlying distortions in the patient’s thought processes. Thus the term thought disorder is frequently used by researchers and practitioners to refer to the disorganized speech that often occurs in schizophrenia.

Problems in the form of speech are reflected in abnormalities in the organization and coherent expression of ideas to others. One common abnormality of form, incoherent speech, is characterized by seemingly unrelated images or fragments of thoughts that are incomprehensible to the listener. The term loose association refers to the tendency to abruptly shift to a topic that has no apparent association with the previous topic. In general, the overall content of loosely associated speech may be easier to comprehend than incoherent speech. In perseverative speech, words, ideas, or both are continuously repeated, as if the patient is unable to shift to another idea. Clang association is the utterance of rhyming words that follow each other (e.g., “a right, bright kite”). Patients choose words for their similarity in sound rather than their syntax, often producing a string of rhyming words.

The overt behavioral symptoms of schizophrenia fall in two general areas: motor functions and interpersonal behavior. Motor abnormalities, including mannerisms, stereotyped movements, and unusual posture, are common among schizophrenia patients. Other common signs include bizarre facial expressions, such as repeated grimacing or staring, and repeated peculiar gestures that often involve complex behavioral sequences. As with other symptoms of the psychosis, the manifestation of motor abnormalities varies among individuals. Schizophrenia patients sometimes mimic the behavior of others, known as echopraxia, or repeat their own movements, known as stereotyped behaviors. Although a subgroup of patients demonstrate heightened levels of activity, including motoric excitement (e.g., agitation or flailing of the limbs), others suffer from a reduction of movement. At the latter extreme, some exhibit catatonic immobility and assume unusual postures that are maintained for extended periods of time. Some may also demonstrate waxy flexibility, a condition in which patients do not resist being placed into strange positions that they then maintain. Catatonia has decreased dramatically in recent decades, so that it is now rare. Several researchers have attributed this decline to the introduction of antipsychotic medication (described later).

In the domain of interpersonal interactions, schizophrenia patients frequently demonstrate behaviors that are perceived as bizarre or inappropriate by others. For example, it is not uncommon for patients to use socially unacceptable language and unusual tones of voice, or to show overly dependent or intrusive behavior. Another common symptom, inappropriate affect, involves unusual emotional reactions to events and experiences. For example, patients may laugh at a sad or somber occasion, or be enraged by insignificant events. Finally, many patients manifest increasingly poor hygiene as their illness progresses. Their appearance may also be marked by disheveled clothing or inappropriate clothing, such as gloves and coats in the summer.

The symptoms of schizophrenia can be classified into the general categories of positive and negative. Positive symptoms involve behavioral excesses and most of the symptoms described earlier fall in to this category (e.g., delusions, hallucinations, and bizarre behaviors). In contrast, negative symptoms involve behavioral deficits. Examples include fiat affect (blunted expressions of emotion), apathy, and social withdrawal. In the domain of verbal expression, schizophrenia patients who manifest a very low rate of verbal output are described as showing poverty of speech. Patients whose speech is normal in quantity, but lacks meaning, suffer from poverty of content. Recently, some researchers have suggested that positive and negative symptoms may be caused by different neural mechanisms.

It is important to mention that a reduction in overt displays of emotion does not necessarily imply that patients have less intense subjective emotional experiences than the average person. In fact, recent findings indicate that blunted emotional expressions can coexist with intense subjective feelings of emotion.

According to DSM-IV, patients must show two or more of the preceding five symptoms to meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Thus, no one of these symptoms is required for the diagnosis. Furthermore, the following four criteria must also be met: (1) the patient shows marked deterioration in occupational, interpersonal, or domestic functioning; (2) the patient manifests continuous signs of symptoms or dysfunction for at least 6 months; (3) the patient does not manifest predominant signs of mood disturbance (e.g., depression or mania); and (4) the symptoms are not caused by substance abuse or a primary medical condition.

Because the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are relatively broad, with no one essential symptom, there is a great deal of variability among patients in their symptom profiles. It has therefore been proposed that schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder with multiple causes. It is also the case, however, that patients must show a marked and persistent impairment to meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Thus, those who meet criteria for the diagnosis are significantly impaired in everyday functioning. For many individuals who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, independent functioning is never achieved.

The DSM lists five subtypes of schizophrenia. In schizophrenia of the paranoid type, delusional concerns about persecution and/or preoccupation with threat dominate the clinical presentation, although delusions of grandeur are also often present. Disorganized schizophrenia is distinguished by extremely incoherent speech and behavior, as well as blunted or inappropriate affect. In catatonic schizophrenia, the clinical picture is dominated by abnormalities in movement and posture, such as those described earlier. Patients classified as having undifferentiated schizophrenia do not meet criteria for any of the previous subtypes. Finally, the diagnosis of residual schizophrenia is applied to patients who have had at least one episode of schizophrenia and who continue to show functional impairment, but who do not currently manifest any positive symptoms.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Emil Kraepelin and Eugen Bleuler provided the first conceptualizations of schizophrenia. Kraepelin defined “dementia praecox,” the original term for schizophrenia, as an endogenous psychosis characterized by intellectual deterioration (dementia) and early onset (praecox). Kraepelin included negativism, hallucinations, delusions, stereotyped behaviors, attentional difficulties, and emotional dysfunction as major symptoms of the disorder. Kraepelin’s work focused on description and phenomenology, leaving subsequent researchers to investigate the cause or causes of the disorder.

In contrast to Kraepelin, Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, proposed a broader view of dementia praecox, with a more theoretical emphasis. Bleuler contested two of Kraepelin’s defining assumptions: specifically, that the psychosis was typically characterized by early onset and intellectual deterioration. Bleuler attempted to identify an underlying commonality among the diverse variations of what Kraepelin referred to as dementia praecox and concluded that all of the patients suffered from a “breaking of associative threads,” causing a disharmony among communicative and thought processes. He believed this abnormality accounted for the problems of thought, emotional expression, decision making, and social interaction associated with schizophrenia. Guided by the defining principle of disharmonious mental structures, Bleuler renamed the disorder “schizophrenia,” meaning “split mind.”

In the early to mid-1900s, American psychiatrists continued to use a broad definition of schizophrenia. The distinction between process and reactive schizophrenia was considered important, however, because it was assumed to distinguish between cases characterized by gradual deterioration (process) and cases that were precipitated by acute stress (reactive).

During this time, some clinicians and researchers viewed the specific diagnostic criteria for the major mental illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression) as artificial and discretionary, and used instead flexible and inconsistent standards for diagnoses. Studies that compared the rates of disorder across nations revealed that schizophrenia was diagnosed at a much higher rate in the United States than in Great Britain and some other countries. This national difference resulted from the use of broader criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia in the United States. Many patients who were diagnosed as having depression or bipolar disorder in Britain were diagnosed with schizophrenia in the United States. Because subsequent revisions in the DSM have included more restrictive criteria for schizophrenia, U.S. diagnostic rates are now comparable with other countries.

In addition to a more restrictive definition of schizophrenia, subsequent editions of the DSM have included additional diagnostic categories that contain similar symptoms. Thus the range of “schizophrenia spectrum disorders” continue to broaden with the description of variants of schizophrenia, such as schizoaffective disorder, which is characterized by a mix of affective and psychotic symptoms. The diagnostic category of schizophreniform disorder was also added. This diagnosis is given when the patient shows the typical symptoms of schizophrenia, but does not meet the criterion of 6 months of continuous illness.

Estimates of the prevalence of schizophrenia converge at around 1% of the population. Although there is evidence of cross-national differences in the rate of schizophrenia, the differences are not large (i.e., 1 to 2% difference). It is, in fact, striking that the rate of occurrence is so consistent across cultures.

The modal age at onset of schizophrenia is in early adulthood, usually before 25 years of age. Thus most patients have not had the opportunity to marry or establish a stable work history before the onset of the illness. As a result of this, and the often chronic nature of the illness, many patients never attain financial independence. It is relatively rare for preadolescent children to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Similarly, it is rare for individuals beyond the age of 40 to experience a first episode of the illness.

Although it has traditionally been assumed that there is no sex difference in the rates of schizophrenia, some recent research findings indicate that a somewhat larger proportion of males than females meet the DSM-IV criteria for the disorder. Nonetheless, the overall rates do not differ dramatically for men and women. It is well established, however, that women are more likely to have a later onset of illness, as well as a better prognosis. Women also show a higher level of interpersonal and occupational functioning during the period prior to illness onset. The reasons for this sex difference are not known, but it has been proposed by several theorists that the female sex hormone, estrogen, may function in attenuating the severity of the illness.

Compared with the general population averages, schizophrenia patients tend to have significantly lower incomes and educational levels. Poor urban inner city districts, inhabited by the lowest socioeconomic class, contain the largest proportion of schizophrenia patients. There is a sharp contrast between the rates of schizophrenia in the lowest socioeconomic class and all other levels, including the next higher level. Findings from various cultures suggest that rates of schizophrenia are almost two times higher in the lowest social class group compared with the next lowest.

These social class differences appear to be a partial consequence of the debilitating nature of the illness. The social-drift theory suggests that during the development of schizophrenia, people drift into poverty. When the incomes and educational levels of the parents of patients are compared with those of the general population, the differences are not as striking.

There is, nonetheless, evidence that patients do come from families where the incomes and educational backgrounds of the parents are slightly below the average. These findings have led researchers to conclude that there may be a causal link between social class and risk for the illness. The sociogenic hypothesis posits that situational factors associated with low social class, such as degrading treatment from society, low levels of education, and few opportunities for achievement and reward, produce stress that contributes to the risk for schizophrenia.

Before the introduction of antipsychotic medications in 1950, the majority of patients spent most of their lives in institutional settings. There was little in the way of programs for rehabilitation. But contemporary, multifaceted treatment approaches have made it possible for most patients to live in community settings.

Of course, during active episodes of the illness, schizophrenia patients are usually seriously functionally impaired. They are typically unable to work or maintain a social network, and often require hospitalization. Even when in remission, some patients find it challenging to hold a job or to be self-sufficient. This is partially due to residual symptoms, as well as to the interruptions in educational attainment and occupational progress that result from the illness. However, there are many patients who are able to lead productive lives, hold stable jobs, and raise families. With the development of greater community awareness of mental illness, some of the stigma that kept patients from pursuing work or an education has diminished.

For about one third of patients, the illness is chronic and is characterized by episodes of severe symptoms with intermittent periods when the symptoms subside but do not disappear. For others, there are multiple episodes with periods of substantial symptom remission. About one third of those who receive the diagnosis eventually show a partial or complete recovery after one or two episodes.

Several factors have been linked with a more favorable prognosis for schizophrenia. Early treatment seems to be important in that the shorter the period between the onset of the patient’s symptoms and the first prescribed medication, the better the clinical outcome. Another indicator of better prognosis is a high level of occupational and interpersonal functioning in the premorbid period. Also, as noted earlier, women and patients who have a later onset of symptoms have a better long-term outcome.

Some of the difficulties experienced by individuals with schizophrenia can be observed before the onset of the clinical symptoms. Deficits in social skills, concentration, emotional expression, motivation, and occupational or academic performance often precede the first clinical symptoms. This period of gradual decline in functioning before the first illness episode is referred to as the prodromal phase.

However, there are often more subtle signs of dysfunction long before the onset of the prodromal period. Controlled studies using archival data sources, such as medical and school records or childhood home-movies, indicate that subtle differences are discernible as early as infancy in some patients. Individuals who succumb to schizophrenia in adulthood sometimes have abnormal motor development and show deficits in emotional expression and interpersonal relationships in early childhood. Cognitive impairment and difficult temperament have also been observed. During middle childhood and adolescence, researchers have found evidence of neurological abnormality, poor emotional control, social immaturity, and academic performance deficits. Premorbid behavioral problems often become marked through the adolescent years, and many exhibit behavioral disturbances and cognitive abnormalities that resemble the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia.

The causes of schizophrenia are unknown, but it is now widely accepted by both researchers and clinicians that schizophrenia is biologically determined. This is in striking contrast to the early and mid-1900s, when many subscribed to the theory that faulty parenting, especially cold and rejecting mothers, caused schizophrenia in offspring.

There are several sources of evidence for the assumption that schizophrenia involves an abnormality in brain function. First, studies of schizophrenia patients have revealed a variety of behavioral signs of central nervous system impairment, including motor and cognitive dysfunctions. Second, when the brains of patients are examined with in vivo imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), many show abnormalities in brain structure. Similarly, postmortem studies of brain tissue have revealed irregularities in nerve cell formation and interconnections.

Laboratory studies of schizophrenia patients have revealed a variety of abnormalities, including irregularities in smooth pursuit eye movements, psychophysiological responses to sensory stimuli, and concentration. Research on the neuropsychological performance of schizophrenia patients was first conducted in the 1950s and continues to the present time. Individual neuropsychological tests are designed to measure functions subserved by specific regions or systems of the brain. An early finding in this area was that schizophrenia patients were the one psychiatric group whose performance on neuropsychological tests was indistinguishable from people with known brain damage. The findings suggested a generalized cerebral dysfunction in schizophrenia. However, patients show the most consistent deficits on tests of attention and memory, indicating dysfunction of the frontal and temporal lobes and the hippocampus. Further evidence of dysfunction in these brain regions is derived from poor performance on tests of executive functions: the ability to formulate, maintain, and adapt appropriate responses to the environment.

Brain-imaging studies of schizophrenia have yielded results that mirror those obtained from neuropsychological research. Some relatively consistent findings are that the brains of schizophrenia patients have abnormal frontal lobes and enlarged ventricles. Enlarged ventricles suggest decreased brain mass, particularly in the limbic regions, which are intimately involved in emotional processing. Furthermore, ventricular size correlates with negative symptoms, performance deficits on neuropsychological tests, poor response to medication, and poor premorbid adjustment. These associations between ventricular enlargement and both premorbid and postmorbid characteristics suggest that the brain abnormalities are long-standing, perhaps congenital.

In addition to brain structure, investigators have examined biological indices of brain function in schizophrenia. Functional brain-imaging studies, with procedures such as positron emission tomography (PET) and measurement of regional cerebral blood flow, reveal that schizophrenia patients have decreased levels of blood flow to the frontal lobes, especially while performing cognitive tasks.

Researchers are now pursuing the question of what causes the brain abnormalities observed in schizophrenia. Although as yet there are no definitive answers, investigators have made continuous progress in identifying factors that are associated with risk for the disorder.

The structural brain abnormalities that have been observed in schizophrenia support the assumption that it is a disorder of the central nervous system. But it has also been shown that similar structural abnormalities (i.e., ventricular enlargement and volume reductions) are present in other disorders, both neurological and psychiatric. It is therefore assumed that specific abnormalities in brain biochemistry may play a role in schizophrenia.

The functioning of the central nervous system is dependent on a host of chemicals that serve as the “messenger substances” among neurons. These chemicals or neurotransmitters have been the subject of intense investigation. Among the various neurotransmitters that have been implicated in the neuropathophysiology of schizophrenia is dopamine. Dopamine is viewed as a likely candidate for two main reasons: (1) drugs that act to enhance the release or activity of dopamine can produce psychotic symptoms, and (2) drugs that have been established to have antipsychotic properties (i.e., reduce psychotic symptoms) reduce the activity of dopamine in the brain. Current theories of the role of dopamine in schizophrenia have focused on dopamine receptors. There is evidence that there may be an abnormality in the number or sensitivity of certain dopamine receptors in the brains of schizophrenia patients. To date, however, this evidence remains inconclusive.

Several other neurotransmitters have also been hypothesized to play a role in schizophrenia. Current theories under investigation include a malfunction of the receptors for a neurotransmitter called glutamate and an abnormality in the balance between dopamine and serotonin (another neurotransmitter which, like dopamine, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia). As research findings on the biochemical aspects of schizophrenia accumulate, it increasingly appears that the illness may involve multiple neurotransmitters, with different biochemical profiles for different patients.

A convincing body of research supports the notion of a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. Behavioral genetic studies of families, twins, and adopted offspring of schizophrenia patients indicate that an inherited vulnerability is involved in at least some cases of the disorder.

There is an elevated risk of schizophrenia for individuals with a biological relative who suffers from the disorder, and the risk rates increase as a function of the genetic closeness of the relationship. For example, it has been estimated that children of schizophrenia patients have a 9 to 15 % likelihood of developing the illness, siblings of patients have an 8 to 14% likelihood, and cousins have a 2 to 6% likelihood of being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Given the general population rate of approximately 1%, relatives of patients are at statistically increased risk. It must be noted, however, that relatives share common experiences as well as common genes. Therefore, examinations of the prevalence of schizophrenia in the relatives of patients cannot elucidate the relative contributions of environmental and genetic factors.

Some investigators have studied the development of adopted children whose biological mothers had schizophrenia. This approach has the potential to provide more conclusive information than family studies. The results of these investigations show that when biological offspring of schizophrenic mothers are reared from infancy in adoptive homes they are more likely to develop schizophrenia than are adopted children from healthy mothers. Furthermore, these children also exhibit a higher rate of other adjustment problems when compared with controls. Studies of this type have clearly illustrated that vulnerability to schizophrenia can be inherited.

Research on twins examines differences in concordance rates between identical (monozygotic or MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic or DZ) twins. Twin studies rely on the fact that MZ twins essentially share 100% of their genes. Thus, environmental influences account for any behavioral differences between MZ twins. In contrast, DZ twins are no more genetically similar than regular siblings; DZ twins do, however, share more similar environmental factors than do nontwin siblings. To date, the results of twin studies have consistently shown that MZ twins are significantly more likely to be concordant for schizophrenia than are DZ twins.

At the same time, it is important to note that in at least 50% of the cases in which one member of an MZ twin pair has schizophrenia, the other does not. Such “discordant” pairs have been the subject of a recent, comprehensive investigation in the United States. Among the most important findings from this research project are those from the MRI scans conducted on the twins. The ill twins in the pairs showed significantly more brain abnormalities than the healthy twins. Most notable were reductions in the volume of certain brain regions, especially the hippocampus, and increases in the size of the ventricles. These results clearly indicate the importance of environmental factors in the etiology of schizophrenia.

As is the case with many other disorders that involve brain dysfunction, there is evidence that schizophrenia is associated with exposure to prenatal and delivery complications. Obstetrical complications (OCs) are defined as physical deviations from the normal course of events during pregnancy, labor, or the neonatal period. Estimates of OCs in schizophrenics have been as high as 67%, significantly higher than the rate of OCs found in normal controls.

Among the prenatal factors that have been found to be associated with increased risk for schizophrenia are prenatal maternal nutritional deficiency, viral infection, bleeding, and toxemia. Complications of delivery that can result in hypoxia have also been linked with heightened risk for the disorder. Hypoxia, a deficiency in the amount of oxygen available to the fetus, can affect the development of various parts of the brain. Some researchers argue that hypoxia results in hippocampal damage, thus contributing to vulnerability for schizophrenia. Low birth weight, a neonatal complication, is another potential early factor contributing to schizophrenia. There is evidence that low birth weight is related to increased ventricular size, which is a common characteristic of schizophrenia patients.

The findings on prenatal complications support the notion that fetal brain development may be disrupted in individuals who later manifest schizophrenia. A central question raised by these findings concerns the nature of the etiologic role of OCs. Some hypothesize that OCs produce the neural predisposition to schizophrenia, whereas others posit that OCs exacerbate or interact with an existing genetic predisposition.

Findings from prospective, high-risk research projects lend support to the hypothesis that OCs interact with genetic vulnerabilities in the etiology of schizophrenia. High-risk studies involve the repeated assessment of children of schizophrenia patients, based on the expectation that a larger percentage of these children will eventually develop the illness than individuals in the general population. The high-risk method offers some advantages when compared with retrospective studies of the precursors of schizophrenia. One advantage is that it allows for the direct assessment of subjects in the premorbid period, as well as the selection and study of variables that are thought to have prognostic relevance. Furthermore, because a significant portion of the data collection takes place during the premorbid period, this reduces confounds that often occur in the study of diagnosed patients (e.g., medication and institutionalization).

Studies using the high-risk method have shown an interactive effect of genetic risk and exposure to OCs in predicting adult psychiatric outcome. In other words, the correlation between OCs and adult psychiatric symptoms was greater for offspring of schizophrenia parents than for children of healthy parents. The same pattern was apparent for the relation between OCs and adult brain morphology, suggesting that pre- and perinatal factors contribute to brain abnormalities.

As noted earlier, prenatal exposure to maternal viral infection has also been linked with schizophrenia. Specifically, the rate of schizophrenia is increased for cohorts who were in the second trimester during flu epidemics. Another source of evidence for the viral hypothesis is the finding that the births of schizophrenia patients do not seem to be randomly distributed throughout the course of the year. Instead, the births of schizophrenia patients occur more frequently in winter months.

Some researchers have suggested that postnatal viral infection may also be relevant to schizophrenia, and that the illness may be caused by a long-acting virus. This hypothesis claims that “slow viruses,” which are active over a long period of time, interact with a genetic predisposition to produce schizophrenia. Various findings are cited in support of this hypothesis. Some researchers have identified a viral infection in fatal catatonia, a disorder characterized by schizophrenia-like symptoms, suggesting that a similar viral infection may be found for schizophrenia. Other researchers have found signs of viral activity in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with schizophrenia.

The diathesis-stress model has dominated theories about the etiology of schizophrenia for several decades. This model assumes that certain individuals inherit or acquire a vulnerability to schizophrenia (the diathesis), and that the behavioral expression of this vulnerability is determined or triggered by environmental stressors. Although “stress” was originally conceptualized as psychosocial in origin, contemporary versions of this model broaden the definition of stress to include prenatal and postnatal insults to the central nervous system. Thus the diathesis, combined with exposure to environmental stressors, can produce schizophrenia.

Exposure to stress within the context of the family has been the focus of researchers in the field. Families in which there is a schizophrenia patient show more conflict and abnormalities in communication than do other families. However, it has also been shown that there is greater conflict and more abnormalities of communication in families in which any member has a severe debilitating illness. Thus, family communication styles are unlikely to play a unique causal role in schizophrenia.

There is good evidence, however, that exposure to high levels of criticism from family members can increase the likelihood of relapse in schizophrenia patients. The number of critical comments, expressions of hostility, and emotional overinvolvement comprise a construct referred to as expressed emotion (EE). Recovering schizophrenia patients in families high in EE are much more likely to have a relapse compared with patients in families low in EE. There is also evidence from studies of the adopted offspring of schizophrenia patients suggesting that familial stress can hasten the onset of symptoms.

Before 1900, knowledge of the nature and causes of mental disorders was limited. Individuals with psychiatric symptoms, particularly psychotic symptoms, were typically viewed by others with disdain or amusement. However, social trends and advances in medical knowledge converged to produce greater sympathy for those with mental illness. This led, especially during the early part of the century, to the construction of public and private hospitals devoted to the care of the mentally ill.

Today, most schizophrenia patients experience at least one period of inpatient treatment. This is typically precipitated by the first psychotic episode. During this initial hospitalization, an extensive assessment is usually conducted to determine the most appropriate diagnosis. Treatment is then initiated to reduce symptoms and stabilize patients so that they can return to the community as soon as possible.

In the past, periods of hospitalization were longer in duration than they are today. This is due, in part, to the availability today of better medical treatments. Another factor that has contributed to shorter hospital stays is the deinstitutionalization movement. Initially spurred by concerns that too many of the mentally ill were becoming “institutionalized” and were losing their ability to function in the community, financial support for state psychiatric hospitals was gradually cut. But community support services and transitional living arrangements were not readily available to many patients. As a result, former psychiatric inpatients now constitute a substantial proportion of the homeless found in U.S. cities.

Introduced in the 1950s, antipsychotic medication has since become the most effective and widely used treatment for schizophrenia. Research indicated that the “typical” antipsychotics, such as haloperidol, decreased the symptoms of schizophrenia, especially positive symptoms, and reduced the risk of relapse. However, they were not as effective in reducing the negative symptoms. Furthermore, some patients showed no response to antipsychotic drugs.

Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) was among the first antipsychotic commonly used to treat schizophrenia. Since the 1950s, many other antipsychotic drugs have been introduced. Like chlorpromazine, these drugs reduce hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorder, and engender more calm, manageable, and socially appropriate behavior. As mentioned, all currently used antipsychotic drugs block dopamine neurotransmission. Thus it has been assumed that their efficacy is due to their capacity to reduce the overactivation of dopamine pathways in the brain.

Unfortunately, the benefits of standard or typical antipsychotic drugs are often mitigated by side effects. Minor side effects include sensitivity to light, dryness of mouth, and drowsiness. The more severe effects are psychomotor dysfunction, skin discoloration, visual impairment, and tardive dyskinesia (an involuntary movement disorder that can appear after prolonged use of antipsychotics). It is especially unfortunate that tardive dyskinesia is sometimes irreversible when patients are withdrawn from neuroleptics. Many of these physical signs are known to be caused by chronic blockade of dopamine pathways. Although additional medications can counter some of the negative effects of the typical antipsychotics, schizophrenia patients often resist taking them because of an aversion to the side effects.

Within the past decade, some new, “atypical” antipsychotic drugs have been introduced. It was hoped that these drugs would be effective in treating patients who had not responded to standard antipsychotics. Also, researchers hoped to identify medications that had fewer side effects. One example is Clozapine, released in 1990, which seems to reduce negative symptoms more effectively than typical antipsychotic drugs. Clozapine not only offers hope for patients who are nonresponsive to other medications, but it also has fewer side effects than typical antipsychotics. However, clozapine can produce one rare, but potentially fatal, side effect, agranulocytosis, a blood disorder. Consequently, patients who are on this medication must be monitored on a regular basis. It is fortunate that several other new antipsychotic medications have recently become available, and some of these appear to have no serious side effects.

It appears that it is important to begin pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia as soon as possible after the symptoms are recognized. The longer patients go without treatment of illness episodes, the worse the long-term prognosis. Medication also has the benefit of lowering the rate of mortality, particularly suicide, among schizophrenia patients. Patients who are treated with antipsychotic medication generally require maintenance of the medication to obtain continued relief from symptoms. Medication withdrawal often results in relapse. At the same time, the associated long- and short-term side effects of antipsychotics, especially the typical antipsychotics, are of continuing concern to patients, their families, and physicians. It is possible that future research on the neural mechanisms involved in schizophrenia will lead to the development of novel treatments that eliminate the need for maintenance medication.

Many schizophrenia patients also suffer from depression and, as noted, are at elevated risk for suicide. The reason or reasons for the high rate of co-occurance of depression with schizophrenia is not known. Given the debilitating and potentially chronic nature of schizophrenia, however, it is likely that some patients experience depressive symptoms in response to their condition. For others, depressive symptoms may be medication side effects or a manifestation of a biologically based vulnerability to depression.

Clinicians have used various forms of psychological therapy in an effort to treat schizophrenia patients. Early attempts to provide therapy for schizophrenia patients relied on insight-oriented or psychodynamic techniques. The chief goal was to foster introspection and self-understanding in patients. Research findings provided no support for the efficacy of these therapies in the treatment of schizophrenia.

It has been shown, however, that supportive therapy can be a useful adjunct to medication in the treatment of patients. Similarly, psychoeducational approaches that emphasize providing information about symptom management have proven effective in reducing relapse. Among the most beneficial forms of psychological treatment is behavioral therapy. Some psychiatric hospitals have established programs in which patients earn credits or “tokens” for appropriate behavior and then redeem these items for privileges or tangible rewards. These programs can increase punctuality, hygiene, and other socially acceptable behaviors in patients.

In recent years, family therapy has become a standard component of the treatment of schizophrenia. These family therapy sessions are psychoeducational in nature and are intended to provide the family with support, information about schizophrenia, and constructive guidance in dealing with the illness in a family member. In this way, family members become a part of the treatment process and learn new ways to help their loved one cope with schizophrenia.

Another critical component of effective treatment is the provision of rehabilitative services. These services take the form of structured residential settings, independent life-skills training, and vocational programs. Such programs often play a major role in helping patients recover from their illness.

It is now firmly established that schizophrenia is caused by an abnormality of brain function that in most cases has its origin in early brain insults, inherited vulnerabilities, or both. But the identification of the causal agents and the specific neural substrates responsible for schizophrenia must await the findings of future research. There is reason to be optimistic about future research progress. New technologies are available for examining brain structure and function. In addition, dramatic advances in neuroscience have expanded our understanding of the brain and the impact of brain abnormalities on behavior. We are likely to witness great strides in our understanding of the causes of all mental illnesses within the coming decades.

It is hoped that advances will also be made in the treatment of schizophrenia. New drugs are being developed at a rapid pace, and more effective medications are likely to result. At the same time, advocacy efforts on the part of patients and their families have resulted in improvements in services. But a further expansion of services is greatly needed to provide patients with the structured living situations and work environments they need to make the transition into independent community living.

Bibliography:

• Breier, A. (Ed.). (1996). The new pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press.
• Keefe, R. S., & Harvey, P. (1994). Understanding schizophrenia: A guide to the new research on causes and treatment. New York: Free Press.
• Miller, G. A. (Ed.). (1995). The behavioral high-risk paradigm in psychopathology. New York: Springer.
• Shriqui, C. L., & Nasrallah, H. A. (Eds.). (1995). Contemporary issues in the treatment of schizophrenia. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press.
• Torrey, E. F. (1994). Schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder: The biological roots of mental illness as revealed by the landmark study of identical twins. New York: Basic Books.
• Walker, E. F. (1991). Schizophrenia: A life-course developmental perspective. New York: Academic Press.

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Brain organoids and assembloids are new models for elucidating, treating neurodevelopmental disorders

Stanford Medicine research on Timothy syndrome — which predisposes newborns to autism and epilepsy — may extend well beyond the rare genetic disorder to schizophrenia and other conditions.

April 24, 2024 - By Bruce Goldman, Erin Digitale

In this 2019 photo, Timothy syndrome patient Holden Hulet, left, rides in a side-by-side ATV driven by his dad, Kelby Hulet, at sand dunes near their home in southern Utah.  Courtesy of the Hulet family

For a long time, no one understood that Holden Hulet was having seizures.

“He would just say ‘I feel tingly, and my vision kind of goes blurry,’” said Holden’s mom, JJ Hulet. “But he couldn’t communicate exactly what was going on.”

JJ and Kelby Hulet could see their son was having short spells of incoherent speech, rapid back-and-forth eye movements and odd physical changes. “He’d kind of go — I don’t want to say ‘limp’ because he would stand just fine — but his body would just be in zombie mode,” JJ said. The episodes lasted less than a minute.

The parents were puzzled and worried, as they had been many times since Holden was born in 2008 and they learned that their newborn had an extremely rare genetic disease. “I was thinking it was his heart,” Kelby Hulet, Holden’s dad, said.

Holden’s condition, Timothy syndrome, causes long, irregular gaps in heart rhythm. He spent his first six months hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit in his family’s home state of Utah while he grew big enough to receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The device sends an electrical signal to restart his heart when it pauses for too long.

As a small child, Holden would sometimes pass out before the defibrillator shocked his heart back into action. When Holden started telling his parents about the blurry-vision episodes at age 6, Kelby initially believed it was a new version of the same problem, and he kept a time stamp on his phone for each episode. But the records from Holden’s defibrillator showed that these times did not line up with any heart-rhythm problems.

The family’s pediatrician was confused, too. Perhaps Holden was having periods of low blood sugar, another possible Timothy syndrome complication, he suggested. Initial testing at the local medical center did not turn up clear answers.

But Kelby, who was training to become an operating room nurse, realized Holden’s episodes reminded him of what he was learning about warning signs for stroke. JJ called Holden’s cardiologist in Utah and asked for a detailed neurologic evaluation, which enabled the mysterious episodes to be diagnosed as seizures. Holden began taking anti-seizure medication, which helped, to his parents’ great relief.

Researching a rare disease

A few months after Holden was born, Sergiu Pasca , MD, arrived at Stanford Medicine to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Ricardo Dolmetsch, PhD, then an assistant professor of neurobiology, who was redirecting his research to autism spectrum disorder. At the time, Pasca did not know the Hulet family. But his work soon became focused on the disorder that has shaped Holden’s life.

Caused by a defective gene on the 12th chromosome, Timothy syndrome is vanishingly rare, with no more than 70 diagnosed cases. Children with this disorder rarely survive to late adolescence. It is caused by a mutation in the gene coding for a type of calcium channel — a protein containing a pore that selectively opens or closes, respectively permitting or blocking the flow of calcium across cells’ membranes. While a prominent feature — severe heart malfunction — can be tackled with a pacemaker, most children with Timothy syndrome will end up with lifelong brain disorders including autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia.

By mid-2009, Pasca had succeeded in generating nerve cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (which can be induced to form virtually any of the body’s numerous cell types). These included cells derived from the skin of two patients with Timothy syndrome. Later that year he observed defects in how the patient-derived neurons were handling calcium. This advance — the creation of one of the initial in-a-dish models of brain disease, built from neurons with defects that precisely mirrored those of a patient’s brain — was published in Nature Medicine in 2011.

Pasca and colleagues continued to monitor these Timothy-syndrome neurons in standard two-dimensional culture — growing as single layers in petri dishes — over the next few years. While this two-dimensional culture method was limited in its ability to sustain viable neurons, it was soon superseded by a genuine scientific breakthrough.

Pioneering the first assembloids

The constraints of two-dimensional culture, including the inability to keep these neurons for long periods of time so that they could reach key stages of neural development, prompted Pasca in 2011 to start developing an unprecedented three-dimensional method. The novel technology produced what came to be known as brain organoids. These constructs recapitulated some of the architecture and physiology of the human cerebral cortex. The organoids can survive for several years in culture, enabling neuroscientists to view, non-invasively, the developing human brain up close and in real time. The scientists wrote a seminal Nature Methods paper , published in 2015, that described their discovery.

Pasca’s group subsequently showed that culturing brain organoids in different ways could generate organoids representing different brain regions (in this case, the cerebral cortex and a fetal structure called the subpallium). In a breakthrough set of experiments, Pasca’s team found ways to bring these organoids into contact so that they fuse and forge complex neuronal connections mimicking those that arise during natural fetal and neonatal development. Pasca named such constructs assembloids.

In their paper on the research, which was published in Nature in 2017, Pasca’s team showed that after fusion, a class of inhibitory neurons originating in the subpallium migrates to the cortex, proceeding in discrete, stuttering jumps. (See animation .) These migrating neurons, called interneurons, upon reaching their destinations — excitatory neurons of the cortex — form complex circuits with those cortical neurons.

But in assembloids derived from Timothy syndrome patients, the motion of interneurons as they migrate from the subpallium is impaired — they jump forward more often, but each jump is considerably shorter, so they fail to integrate into the appropriate circuitry in the cortex. This wreaks havoc with signaling in cortical circuits. Pasca’s team tied this aberrant neuronal behavior on the part of Timothy syndrome neurons to the key molecular consequence of the genetic defect responsible for the condition: namely, malfunction of the critical channels through which calcium must pass to cross neurons’ outer membranes.

A family’s struggles

While Pasca was developing assembloids, the Hulet family was progressing through their own journey of discovery with Holden. They faced painful uncertainty at every stage, starting when Holden was discharged from the NICU in the summer of 2009, after several months of hospitalization and multiple heart surgeries.

“Even when we brought him home, [his doctors] said ‘Don’t get your hopes up. We don’t usually see them make it past age 2,” JJ recalled. Many children with Timothy syndrome die from cardiac failure in early life.

“It’s really hard to be positive in that kind of situation, and for a long time I did let it get to me,” JJ said. “I finally got to a point where I said, ‘I have to live my life and we just keep fighting.’”

JJ runs a child care center and has years of experience working with special-needs kids, which motivated her to push for an autism evaluation when she saw signs of autism in Holden. He’s much more verbal than many children with autism, which paradoxically made it more difficult to get an official diagnosis.

“That was frustrating,” JJ said. Although the family’s pediatric cardiologist in Salt Lake City was familiar with the vagaries of Timothy syndrome, their local caregivers in the small town where they live in southern Utah were not. “They kept saying ‘Oh, no, it’s just developmental delays because he was so premature,’” she said. She wonders whether it would have been easier to have Holden’s autism diagnosed had more been known about Timothy syndrome at the time.

“I think research is important so that parents and children have the support they need,” she said, noting how lonely and painful it can be to advocate for a child when his condition is poorly understood — and when, as a parent, you may be doubted by medical professionals. “It’s a really hard thing to deal with.”

Her voice breaks briefly. She continues, “I think research brings validity to that.”

Sergiu Pasca

Implanting organoids

In 2022, Pasca published a  study in  Nature describing the transplantation of human cortical organoids into neonatal rats’ brains, which resulted in the integration of human neurons along with supporting brain cells into the brain tissue of rats to form hybridized working circuits. The implanted human organoids survived, thrived and grew. Individual neurons from the human organoids integrated into young rats’ brains were at least six times as big as those — generated the same way, at the same time — that remained in a dish. The transplanted neurons also exhibited much more sophisticated branching patterns. Pasca and his colleagues observed marked differences in the electrical activity of, on one hand, human neurons generated from a Timothy syndrome patient, cultured as organoids and transplanted into one side of a rat’s brain, and, on the other hand, those generated from a healthy individual and transplanted, as an organoid, into the corresponding spot on the other side of the same rat’s brain. The Timothy syndrome neurons were also much smaller and were deficient in sprouting branching, brush-like extensions called dendrites, which act as antennae for input from nearby neurons.

“We’ve learned a lot about Timothy syndrome by studying organoids and assembloids kept in a dish,” Pasca said. “But only with transplantation were we able to convincingly see these neuronal-activity-related differences.”

That same year, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 was signed into law, exempting certain categories of new drug-development protocols from previously mandated animal testing. The act was predicated on the understanding that recent advancements in science offer increasingly viable alternatives to animal testing, so the findings based on the organoid- and assembloid-culture technologies may be adequate to justify clinical trials in some neurodevelopmental conditions.

Most recently, in a Nature paper published April 24, Pasca and his colleagues demonstrated, in principle, the ability of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to correct the fundamental defects that lead to Timothy syndrome by nudging calcium-channel production toward another form of the gene that does not carry the disease-causing mutation. Using ASOs to guide production of the functional rather than defective form of this channel reversed the defect’s detrimental downstream effects: Interneuronal migration proceeded similarly to that procedure in healthy brains, and the altered electrical properties of the calcium channel reverted to normalcy. This therapeutic correction was demonstrated in a lab dish — and, critically, in rat-transplantation experiments, suggesting that this therapeutic approach can work in a living organism.

Pasca is now actively searching the globe for carriers of the genetic defect, in preparation for the pursuit of a clinical trial at Stanford Medicine to test the safety and therapeutic potential of ASOs in mitigating the pathological features of Timothy syndrome.

“We are also actively engaged in conversations with other scientists, clinicians in the field and ethicists about the best way to move forward and safely bring this therapeutic approach into the clinic,” he said.

Pasca added that the calcium channel that is mutated in Timothy syndrome is, in fact, “the hub” of several neuropsychiatric diseases including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. So it may be that the lessons learned — and the therapies derived — from his 15-year focus on a rare disease may have broad application in a number of widespread and troubling psychiatric conditions.

‘Amazing’ teenager

Today, in defiance of his doctors’ warning that he might not live past age 2, Holden Hulet is 15 years old and doing well.

“I think a lot of times, autism is perceived as ‘They’re not neurotypical and they’re not capable of certain things.’ But he is brilliant,” JJ said. “He’s amazing with techie stuff or Legos. He’s funny and super honest and very self-aware.”

Kelby often takes Holden to visit the farm where he grew up. Holden loves to ride the farm equipment and enjoys hanging out with the animals, especially the farm dogs and calves. Like a lot of kids, he keeps an eye out for good rocks, Kelby said with a chuckle.

“He’s always either throwing them or collecting them,” JJ said. “That’s something I really like about him: He’s always got a pocket full of something.”

Although navigating a rare disease is one of the most challenging things they have faced, the Hulets see light in their situation, and would offer encouragement to any family facing a new Timothy syndrome diagnosis.

“There is hope,” JJ said. “There are people out there who care, people out there who fight for you who don’t even know you. I think that’s what is so important about research — that you’re fighting a battle for people you don’t even know.”

The study published April 24 was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grants R01 MH115012 and K99 MH119319P), the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute, the Autism Speaks Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Kwan Funds, the Senkut Funds, the Coates Foundation, the Ludwig Family Foundation, the Alfred E. Mann Foundation, and the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship.

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu .

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Disorganized Schizophrenia and its Effects on Children

This essay about childhood disorganized schizophrenia, shedding light on its complexities and far-reaching effects. It explores the unique challenges faced by children with this condition, from fragmented thoughts to social barriers. The essay emphasizes the importance of early intervention and comprehensive support in addressing the multifaceted needs of affected children. By recognizing the symptoms and embracing holistic approaches to care, we can empower children and their families to navigate this challenging terrain with resilience and hope.

How it works

Venturing into the intricate landscape of childhood disorganized schizophrenia unveils a tapestry of complexities, each thread woven with unique challenges and implications. This essay embarks on an exploration of this enigmatic condition, drawing upon diverse perspectives and weaving together insights from various disciplines.

In the mosaic of childhood development, disorganized schizophrenia emerges as a disruptive force, casting shadows over the cognitive, emotional, and social realms of a child’s life. Unlike its counterparts, this subtype manifests in a kaleidoscope of symptoms, including fragmented thoughts, erratic behaviors, and a disarray of emotions.

In children, these manifestations often present in subtle yet profound ways, posing diagnostic challenges and raising questions about appropriate interventions.

The ripple effects of childhood disorganized schizophrenia extend beyond the individual, permeating through familial dynamics, educational environments, and social interactions. Children grappling with this condition find themselves navigating turbulent waters, where social cues are obscured, and academic pursuits are fraught with obstacles. The disorganization of their internal world spills over into their external reality, creating barriers to connection and understanding.

Addressing the multifaceted needs of children with disorganized schizophrenia necessitates a collaborative and comprehensive approach, one that embraces both pharmacological interventions and psychosocial support. While medications offer relief from acute symptoms, they must be administered judiciously, considering the unique needs and sensitivities of each child. Equally vital are therapeutic modalities that empower children to navigate their inner landscapes, fostering resilience and self-awareness amidst the chaos.

Early intervention emerges as a beacon of hope in the journey of childhood disorganized schizophrenia, offering the promise of improved outcomes and enhanced quality of life. By recognizing the early signs and symptoms of the condition, caregivers and practitioners can intervene proactively, providing children and their families with the resources and support they need to navigate this challenging terrain. Through a concerted effort that spans disciplines and embraces innovation, we can illuminate the path towards healing and recovery for children affected by disorganized schizophrenia.

In conclusion, childhood disorganized schizophrenia presents a multifaceted puzzle that demands a nuanced and compassionate response. By unraveling its intricacies and embracing a holistic approach to care, we can provide children with the support they need to navigate the complexities of their inner worlds and emerge resilient and empowered in their journey towards wellness.

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Understaffed nursing homes in disadvantaged neighborhoods more likely to overuse antipsychotics

Boosting staffing may help limit use of 'chemical restraints,' study finds.

Nursing homes in disadvantaged communities are more likely to overmedicate residents with antipsychotics, especially homes that are understaffed, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open .

"The neighborhood in which a nursing home is located seems to influence how widely antipsychotics are used, even when they may not be indicated," said Jasmine Travers, assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and the study's senior author.

Antipsychotic medications are used to treat serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. These medications have long been given to nursing home residents with and without dementia who are agitated or have behavioral issues. -- Sometimes staff rely on their sedating side effects for "chemical restraint" rather than redirecting residents in distress.

"We know that nursing homes with lower staffing levels use more antipsychotics. These medications may be compensating for understaffing by sedating residents instead of having adequate staff to support their needs," said Travers.

Antipsychotic use in older adults can be dangerous, increasing their risk for falls, strokes, and even death. As a result, in recent years, there has been a significant push by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce the use of antipsychotics to manage behaviors such as aggression or wandering in nursing homes.

However, this may be more challenging in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where residents may be exposed to greater stressors, including higher crime rates, noise pollution, and less green space, all of which can harm their mental and physical health. For older adults, these stressors might translate to poor sleep or agitation, increasing the risk that an antipsychotic medication is used, even without an appropriate diagnosis.

To better understand the connection between nursing home staffing, neighborhood factors, and antipsychotic use, Travers and her colleagues looked at data from 10,666 nursing homes across the U.S., 1,867 of which were in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods. Neighborhood socioeconomics were measured using data on income, education, employment, and housing for small geographic units called census blocks.

The researchers also looked at what percentage of residents received an antipsychotic drug in the last week but didn't have a qualifying diagnosis of schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, or Huntington's disease. (The study did not take into account residents who are falsely diagnosed with schizophrenia to get around the CMS reporting requirement, a troubling practice documented in a 2022 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)

The researchers found that nursing homes that were understaffed -- measured as having less than three hours of nurse staffing per resident each day -- had greater antipsychotic medication use in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods (19.2%) compared to less disadvantaged neighborhoods (17.1%).

"This means that in a 100-bed nursing home that is understaffed, two additional residents would inappropriately receive an antipsychotic medication if the nursing home was in a disadvantaged neighborhood versus a more well-off area," said Travers.

Notably, when nursing homes met or exceeded the federal government's proposed staffing levels of at least three hours of nursing per resident per day, there was not a significant difference in antipsychotic use based on neighborhood, providing support for having minimum staffing levels. The researchers call for a more focused effort on improving staffing in nursing homes in lower income areas, which could include additional funding -- similar to funds provided to federally qualified health centers -- or other tailored interventions to address gaps in staffing.

"Addressing staffing deficiencies, particularly in nursing homes in disadvantaged neighborhoods, will be critical for reducing the overuse of antipsychotics," said Travers. "Understanding this vulnerability can help inform policy solutions to support, not penalize, nursing homes in disinvested communities."

In addition to Travers, study authors include Erinn Hade and Steven Friedman of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Aasha Raval and Kimberly Hadson of NYU Meyers, and Jason Falvey of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging (K76AG074922, K76AG074926, P30AG028747) and the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation.

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Journal Reference :

• Jasmine L. Travers, Erinn M. Hade, Steven Friedman, Aasha Raval, Kimberly Hadson, Jason R. Falvey. Staffing and Antipsychotic Medication Use in Nursing Homes and Neighborhood Deprivation . JAMA Network Open , 2024; 7 (4): e248322 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.8322

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EDITORIAL article

This article is part of the research topic.

Women in Molecular Neuroscience

Editorial: WOMEN IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE Provisionally Accepted

• 1 Biochemistry and Molecular and Structural Biology, Institut Jožef Stefan (IJS), Slovenia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The paper by Andreia Barateiro et al., and, Adelaide Fernandes, from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, entitled "Women in the field of multiple sclerosis: How they contributed to paradigm shifts" 1 (ed. By E.Ž), gives perspectives on the paradigm shift in the multiple sclerosis (MS) field of research as performed by women. Authors claim: "History is full of women who made enormous contributions to science. While there is little to no imbalance at the early career stage, a decreasing proportion of women is found as seniority increases." The authors emphasize the new insights on MS sparked by remarkable women that have shifted paradigms by pointing to cognitive impairment, white and gray matter pathology, immune response, and the gut interplay on MS diagnosis, progression, and/or therapy.MS is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (CNS), with evident paradigm shifts in the understating of its pathophysiology. In MS the immune system becomes overactivated and attacks the myelin sheath surrounding axons. The resulting demyelination disrupts the communication signals to and from the CNS. Classically, MS was viewed to cause mostly physical and motor disabilities. However, it is now recognized that cognitive impairment affects more than 50% of MS patients. Another shifting paradigm was the involvement of gray matter in MS pathology, formerly considered to be a white matter disease. In accordance with the gut-brain connection of brain pathologies, the gut microbiota were shown to influence not only different susceptibilities to MS pathology, but it can also modulate the course of disease. Not at least, the role of microRNAs has been investigated in MS, either as potential biomarkers or therapeutic agents.In the paper by Thien Hoang Minh Cao, Anh Phuc Hoang Le et al., and Huong Thi Thanh Ha from the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam "Plasma cell-free RNA profiling of Vietnamese Alzheimer's patients reveals a linkage with chronic inflammation and apoptosis: a pilot study" 2 (ed. by Ö.S.) profiles of cfRNA in Caucasian AD patients have been investigated. Their study examined the gap and contributed to the development of point-of-care AD diagnosis. Namely, circulating cell-free RNA (cfRNA) is a potential hallmark for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) as it construes the genetic expression level, giving insights into the pathological progress from the outset.The paper by Zi-Wen Wang et al. and, Ling Zhao from Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China entitled "Brain structural and functional changes during menstrual migraine: Relationships with pain" 3 , (ed. by Ö.S), menstrual migraine (MM) was explored. The authors investigated gray matter volume and functional connectivity alterations in patients with MM. Their results suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may be an important biomarker in MM, and its structural and functional impairments are significantly associated with the severity of pain and pain-related impairment of emotion in patients with MM. "The role of primed and non-primed MSC-derived conditioned media in neuroregeneration" 4 was investigated by Nikola Hudáková et al., and, Dasa Cizkova from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice, Košice, Slovakia and Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia (as edited by Jolanta Dorszewska). With growing significance in nervous system repair, mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned media (MSCCM) have been used in cell-free therapies in regenerative medicine. However, the immunomodulatory and neuroregenerative effects of MSCCM and the influence of priming on these effects are still poorly understood. The results highlight the potential of primed and nonprimed MSCCM as a useful therapeutic tool for neurodegenerative diseases.In the review paper written by one of the Guest Co-editors, Eva Žerovnik from Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia "Human stefin B: from its structure, folding, and aggregation to its function in health and disease" 5 (as edited by Andrei Surguchov) structural, functional and pathological sides of human stefin B (cystatin B) were described. Mutations in the gene for cystatin B cause progressive myoclonic epilepsy type 1 (EPM1), which also is, apart from epileptic syndrome, a neurodegenerative disorder. Function-wise, human stefin B primarily acts as a cysteine cathepsin inhibitor, however, it also exhibits alternative functions. It has been shown that stefin B is oligomeric in cells and that it has a specific role in the physiology of the synapse and in vesicular transport. It plays a protective role against oxidative stress, likely via reducing mitochondrial damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, lack of stefin B results in NLRP3 inflammasome activation, followed by increased inflammation and ROS. Primarily the cytosolic protein, it exerts an important role in the nucleus, where it prevents cleavage of the N terminal part of histone 3 by inhibiting cathepsins L and B, regulating transcription and cell cycle.The paper by Zala Slabe et al., and, Dick F Swaab from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands, respectively "Increased pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide genes expression in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia in relation to suicide" 6 (ed. by E.Ž), discusses a role of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) in suicide victims. PACAP is a stress-related neuropeptide that is produced in several brain areas. It acts by 3 receptors: PACAP type-1 (PAC1), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) -1 and -2 (VPAC1 and 2). Data on polymorphisms in PACAP and PAC1 indicate a relationship of the PACAP system with schizophrenia (SCZ). In their study, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of 35 SCZ patients and 34 matched controls were included. An increase in all PACAP-related genes was present in SCZ-N male patients compared to SCZ-N females. Changes in expression in PACAP-related genes in relation to SCZ, suicide and gender were observed. There was a higher PACAP-related gene expression observed in SCZ patients in the ACC and in suicide victims with SCZ in the DLPFC.Furthermore, original research was performed by the group of Francisca C. Bronfman from the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Life Sciences, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile (ed. by E.Ž) "PLC-gamma-Ca+2 pathway regulates axonal TrkB endocytosis and is required for long-distance propagation of BDNF signaling" 7 . In this work, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) were studied. These proteins regulate dendritic growth and maintenance in the central nervous system (CNS), Namely, after binding of BDNF, TrkB is endocytosed into endosomes and continues signaling within the cell soma, dendrites, and axons. The authors have shown that the activity of PLC-γ is required for BDNFdependent TrkB endocytosis, suggesting a role for the TrkB/PLC-γ signaling pathway in axonal signaling endosome formation.The group of Irena Smaga from the Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland contributed original research about post-delivery depression in the offspring: "A maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation induced depression-like behavior in offspring and myelin-related changes in the rat prefrontal cortex" 8 (ed. by Ö.S.).All in all, we with the Co-Editor are proud for the women contributors, who took the challenge to present their important works. KEYWORDS: multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorder, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP), schizophrenia, suicide, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), endocytosis, PLC-gamma-Ca+2 pathway, cystatin B, oxidative stress, neuroregeneration by MSCCM.

Keywords: Multiple Sclerosis, Autoimmune disorder, Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP), Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), PLC-gamma-Ca+2 pathway, Cystatin B, Oxidative Stress

Received: 24 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Apr 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Zerovnik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Prof. Eva Zerovnik, Institut Jožef Stefan (IJS), Biochemistry and Molecular and Structural Biology, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia, Slovenia

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How Pew Research Center will report on generations moving forward

Journalists, researchers and the public often look at society through the lens of generation, using terms like Millennial or Gen Z to describe groups of similarly aged people. This approach can help readers see themselves in the data and assess where we are and where we’re headed as a country.

Pew Research Center has been at the forefront of generational research over the years, telling the story of Millennials as they came of age politically and as they moved more firmly into adult life . In recent years, we’ve also been eager to learn about Gen Z as the leading edge of this generation moves into adulthood.

But generational research has become a crowded arena. The field has been flooded with content that’s often sold as research but is more like clickbait or marketing mythology. There’s also been a growing chorus of criticism about generational research and generational labels in particular.

Recently, as we were preparing to embark on a major research project related to Gen Z, we decided to take a step back and consider how we can study generations in a way that aligns with our values of accuracy, rigor and providing a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue.

A typical generation spans 15 to 18 years. As many critics of generational research point out, there is great diversity of thought, experience and behavior within generations.

We set out on a yearlong process of assessing the landscape of generational research. We spoke with experts from outside Pew Research Center, including those who have been publicly critical of our generational analysis, to get their take on the pros and cons of this type of work. We invested in methodological testing to determine whether we could compare findings from our earlier telephone surveys to the online ones we’re conducting now. And we experimented with higher-level statistical analyses that would allow us to isolate the effect of generation.

What emerged from this process was a set of clear guidelines that will help frame our approach going forward. Many of these are principles we’ve always adhered to , but others will require us to change the way we’ve been doing things in recent years.

Here’s a short overview of how we’ll approach generational research in the future:

We’ll only do generational analysis when we have historical data that allows us to compare generations at similar stages of life. When comparing generations, it’s crucial to control for age. In other words, researchers need to look at each generation or age cohort at a similar point in the life cycle. (“Age cohort” is a fancy way of referring to a group of people who were born around the same time.)

When doing this kind of research, the question isn’t whether young adults today are different from middle-aged or older adults today. The question is whether young adults today are different from young adults at some specific point in the past.

To answer this question, it’s necessary to have data that’s been collected over a considerable amount of time – think decades. Standard surveys don’t allow for this type of analysis. We can look at differences across age groups, but we can’t compare age groups over time.

Another complication is that the surveys we conducted 20 or 30 years ago aren’t usually comparable enough to the surveys we’re doing today. Our earlier surveys were done over the phone, and we’ve since transitioned to our nationally representative online survey panel , the American Trends Panel . Our internal testing showed that on many topics, respondents answer questions differently depending on the way they’re being interviewed. So we can’t use most of our surveys from the late 1980s and early 2000s to compare Gen Z with Millennials and Gen Xers at a similar stage of life.

This means that most generational analysis we do will use datasets that have employed similar methodologies over a long period of time, such as surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau. A good example is our 2020 report on Millennial families , which used census data going back to the late 1960s. The report showed that Millennials are marrying and forming families at a much different pace than the generations that came before them.

Even when we have historical data, we will attempt to control for other factors beyond age in making generational comparisons. If we accept that there are real differences across generations, we’re basically saying that people who were born around the same time share certain attitudes or beliefs – and that their views have been influenced by external forces that uniquely shaped them during their formative years. Those forces may have been social changes, economic circumstances, technological advances or political movements.

When we see that younger adults have different views than their older counterparts, it may be driven by their demographic traits rather than the fact that they belong to a particular generation.

The tricky part is isolating those forces from events or circumstances that have affected all age groups, not just one generation. These are often called “period effects.” An example of a period effect is the Watergate scandal, which drove down trust in government among all age groups. Differences in trust across age groups in the wake of Watergate shouldn’t be attributed to the outsize impact that event had on one age group or another, because the change occurred across the board.

Changing demographics also may play a role in patterns that might at first seem like generational differences. We know that the United States has become more racially and ethnically diverse in recent decades, and that race and ethnicity are linked with certain key social and political views. When we see that younger adults have different views than their older counterparts, it may be driven by their demographic traits rather than the fact that they belong to a particular generation.

Controlling for these factors can involve complicated statistical analysis that helps determine whether the differences we see across age groups are indeed due to generation or not. This additional step adds rigor to the process. Unfortunately, it’s often absent from current discussions about Gen Z, Millennials and other generations.

When we can’t do generational analysis, we still see value in looking at differences by age and will do so where it makes sense. Age is one of the most common predictors of differences in attitudes and behaviors. And even if age gaps aren’t rooted in generational differences, they can still be illuminating. They help us understand how people across the age spectrum are responding to key trends, technological breakthroughs and historical events.

Each stage of life comes with a unique set of experiences. Young adults are often at the leading edge of changing attitudes on emerging social trends. Take views on same-sex marriage , for example, or attitudes about gender identity .

Many middle-aged adults, in turn, face the challenge of raising children while also providing care and support to their aging parents. And older adults have their own obstacles and opportunities. All of these stories – rooted in the life cycle, not in generations – are important and compelling, and we can tell them by analyzing our surveys at any given point in time.

When we do have the data to study groups of similarly aged people over time, we won’t always default to using the standard generational definitions and labels. While generational labels are simple and catchy, there are other ways to analyze age cohorts. For example, some observers have suggested grouping people by the decade in which they were born. This would create narrower cohorts in which the members may share more in common. People could also be grouped relative to their age during key historical events (such as the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic) or technological innovations (like the invention of the iPhone).

By choosing not to use the standard generational labels when they’re not appropriate, we can avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes or oversimplifying people’s complex lived experiences.

Existing generational definitions also may be too broad and arbitrary to capture differences that exist among narrower cohorts. A typical generation spans 15 to 18 years. As many critics of generational research point out, there is great diversity of thought, experience and behavior within generations. The key is to pick a lens that’s most appropriate for the research question that’s being studied. If we’re looking at political views and how they’ve shifted over time, for example, we might group people together according to the first presidential election in which they were eligible to vote.

With these considerations in mind, our audiences should not expect to see a lot of new research coming out of Pew Research Center that uses the generational lens. We’ll only talk about generations when it adds value, advances important national debates and highlights meaningful societal trends.

• Age & Generations
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Kim Parker is director of social trends research at Pew Research Center

How Teens and Parents Approach Screen Time

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New research finds paid family leave helps prevent child abuse

by Kim Ward, Michigan State University

Child maltreatment is a serious public health issue in the United States, particularly affecting young children who are most vulnerable due to their dependence on caregivers. Infants under two years old account for over one-quarter, or 28.1%, of all maltreatment cases in the U.S., and infants under one year of age experience the highest rate of victimization, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

But new research from Michigan State University may have found a way to prevent this abuse: state-paid family leave . The paper is published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect .

Previous research found that paid family leave policies have the potential to promote secure and healthy attachments, improve maternal and child health outcomes, enhance parental mental health and support household economic stability . These outcomes are known protective factors for child maltreatment . Michigan State University researchers have now established a direct link between paid family leave and reductions in infant maltreatment.

The World Health Organization states that child maltreatment includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.

"Child maltreatment is a complex issue that requires innovative tools to address the multiple challenges faced by vulnerable families," said Jenny Tanis, MSU College of Social Science doctoral candidate and assistant professor of social work at Hope College. "Our research provides evidence that paid family leave policies may be an effective innovative policy tool to promote child safety and family well-being."

According to co-author Sacha Klein, an associate professor in the MSU College of Social Science's School of Social Work, the United States is one of only five countries in the world that does not provide federal compensation guarantee for maternity leave . The other four being the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Papua New Guinea.

"In the absence of a national paid family leave policy, U.S. states have been left to decide whether they should adopt this as a state policy," Klein said. "To date, 14 states and Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have taken the matter into their own hands and enacted state-paid family leave policies. Several other states, including Michigan, are actively considering adopting this policy."

The research team compared four states that implemented paid family leave (California, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island) to states that do not have it. They found a statistically significant reduction in infant maltreatment rates over time for states that passed paid family leave policies compared to those that did not.

The researchers noted that although the pool of states with paid family leave was small, the differences in infant maltreatment rates were large enough to produce statistically significant results. They also found these policies may be especially protective for infants in states with high levels of family poverty and adults without a high school education.

According to Klein, this research adds to the growing evidence that policies aimed to support household economic stability could be a vital child maltreatment prevention policy tool.

"Traditional arguments in support of paid family leave policy highlight its positive effect on maternal labor force participation and maternal and infant health benefits," Klein said. "The results of this study highlight considerable implications for the design and implementation of future paid family leave policies.

"We hope our results inform national and state debates about paid family leave policy by providing evidence of the beneficial effect on infant maltreatment rates. States considering paid family leave policies should also consider the importance of designing policies prioritizing the needs of low-income workers, who would benefit the most from such policies and are more likely to encounter the U.S. child welfare system."

It's important to note that paid family leave is not just an economic support policy, Tanis said.

"Paid family leave provides designated time at home to care for and bond with a new child without the added pressure of economic hardship. When we approach child maltreatment prevention from a socioecological model, we recognize the importance of addressing risk factors at all levels: individual, family, community and society."

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Treatment and Qualitative Research of Schizophrenia

German Academy for Psychoanalysis, Board, Head Of Training And Research, Berlin, Germany

Introduction

The author demonstrates the psychodynamic understanding of schizophrenia and describes the ensuing personality-structural psychotherapy. Schizophrenia from a psychodynamic understanding is a disease in the core of the identity with disturbances of the personality functions of identity, ego-demarcation, aggression, fear, narcissism, perception, cognitive abilities and the body- ego. It is the concern of the author to investigate how schizophrenically structured patients and their family members experience the group dynamic field in which the patients grew up and its relations to the illness. The following five topics: contact and experiences within the family of childhood, body care and physical contact, kindergarden and school life, puberty, and contacts outside the family have been investigated.

The aim is to show how the family settings and backgrounds are conducive to developing schizophrenia

The author chosed for her investigation the method of biographical interviews, introduced by Witzel (1985). This method of interviewing is problem centered, object and process oriented. The analysis of the exhaustive tape-recorded interviews was made by using the method of qualitative analysis based on the grounded theory.

Schizophrenia from psychodynamic understanding is a disease in the core of the identity with disturbances of the personality functions of identity, ego-demarcation, aggression, fear, narcissism, perception, cognitive abilities and the body- ego.

Conclusions

It is the concern of the author to investigate how schizophrenically structured patients and their family members experience the group dynamic social energetic field in which the patients grew up and its relations to the illness

No significant relationships.