Ming T. Tsuang

Stephen V. Faraone

Stephen J. Glatt

Schizophrenia

William S. Stone

Leading and internationally recognized researchers review what is known about the liability to schizophrenia, how it progresses, what it looks like clinically-with an emphasis on a specific (proposed) syndrome of liability (schizotaxia)-and how best it might be treated now and in the near future. The authors summarize the latest findings on the genetic, early environmental, and neurodevelopmental origins of schizophrenia.

Early Clinical Intervention and Prevention in Schizophrenia

Peter Jones

Mauricio Tohen

Rev. ed. of: Textbook in psychiatric epidemiology / edited by Ming T. Tsuang, Mauricio Tohen. 2nd ed. c2002.

Textbook of Psychiatric Epidemiology

Andreas Marneros

Nancy C. Andreasen

One of the most important questions of our previous common volumes about affective, schizoaffective, and schizophrenic disorders was the question of what connects and what separates psychotic disorders (Marneros and Tsuang, Schizo affective Psychoses, Springer-Verlag, 1986; Marneros and Tsuang Affective and Schizoaffective Disorders, Springer-Verlag, 1990; Marneros, Andreasen, and Tsuang, Negative and Positive Schizophrenia, Springer-Verlag 1993). The boundaries between various psychotic disorders are not always clearly defined. Some groups of psychotic disorders, such as schizoaffective disorders and all the other "atypical" psychoses, occupy a position between "typical" mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, and affective disorders. The question is: Do psychotic disorders form a continuum, or are they, despite their unclear boundaries, distinct entities? On what basis should we assume there is a continuity of psychotic disorders? Solely symptomatology? Or perhaps also a continuity in genetic predispositions? Or in biological, pharmacological, and other dimensions? Is the old idea of "Einheitspsychose" (unitary psychosis) really always wrong? The contributions contained in this new volume cannot provide a definite answer to the above questions. But they try to describe some relevant aspects of the problem, and to give some partial answers. Halle-Wittenberg, Germany A. MARNEROS Brockton, USA M. T. TSUANG Iowa, USA N. C. ANDREASEN October 1994 Contents Part I Psychotic Continuum: An Introduction A. MARNEROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Psychotic Continuum or Distinct Entities: Perspectives from Psychopathology CH. MUNDT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Psychotic Continuum Under Longitudinal Considerations A. MARNEROS, A. ROHDE, and A. DEISTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Psychotic Continuum or Distinct Entities: Perspective from Psychopharmacology H. Y. MELTZER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Psychotic Continuum

The positive versus negative distinction of schizophrenic disorders has pro moted ongoing research. Phenomenology, psychopathology, biology, genet ics, pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment, psychosocial and longitudinal research: all have found a new focus of interest. This volume attempts to provide an unbiased picture of the status of American and Eu ropean knowledge regarding the positive/negative distinction. Researchers from North America and Europe describe the relation of modern concepts of positive and negative symptomatology to the original models of Rey nolds and Jackson. Integrating phenomenological, genetic, and biological factors, the authors depict current methods of assessing positive and nega tive symptomatology, differentiating between primary and secondary symp tomatology, and using pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. The stability of positive and negative symptoms over time and evidence for the occurrence of separate positive and negative episodes over a long-term course of schizophrenia are extensively discussed in terms of their implica tions on the positive/negative construct. The relevance of the positive/nega tive dichotomy to child and adolescent schizophrenia is also debated. The main aim of this book is not to advocate a single concept and present only arguments supporting it, but to discuss important controversies. Prob lems concerning a concept cannot be solved by ignoring them. However, unanswered questions may be resolved through discussion, debate, and con structive compromise.

Negative Versus Positive Schizophrenia

George Winokur

The Natural History of Mania, Depression, and Schizophrenia takes an unusual look at the course of mental illness, based on data from the Iowa 500 Research Project. This project involved the long-term (30-40 years) follow-up of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar illness. After presenting a history and background of the study, the authors provide fascinating, verbatim interviews with patients at the time of hospital admission in the 1930s and 1940s. Eight of the 15 chapters are dedicated to the modern, systematic follow-up and family study of these patients. Medical students, residents, psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, ministers, and clinicians are offered an interesting look at what might be expected should treatment not be instituted with such patients. Unlike earlier works that focused on the descriptive aspects of mental illness, this book provides clinicians with a more systematic evaluation of the symptom picture, course and outcome, and family history. It concludes with useful information on the diagnosis and classification of the affective disorders and chronic nonaffective psychoses.

Ming T. Tsuang

About

Books

Join the club