Nature Magazine Special Edition on Schizophrenia

[David Baxter PhD]

Nature Magazine Special Edition on Schizophrenia
December 2010

This month's edition of Nature is devoted to a look at current research and knowledge about schizophrenia. Access is free on line at Specials archive : Nature

Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a condition experienced by over 0.5% of the world's population at some time in their lives, and has a more debilitating impact on sufferers than most psychiatric illnesses, as well as a disproportionate societal impact. This special issue highlights the state of play and opportunities for progress in understanding, diagnosing and treating the condition.

CONTENTS


Editorial

• Combating schizophrenia
  Research has revealed daunting complexities in the psychiatric condition, but also new routes towards diagnosis and treatment.
  Nature 468, 133 ( 10 November 2010 )

News

• China tackles surge in mental illness
  Psychological examinations added to selection procedure for government officials.
  Nature 468, 145 ( 10 November 2010 )

Features

• The making of a troubled mind
  Schizophrenia appears during adolescence. But where does one begin and the other end?
  Nature 468, 154-156 ( 10 November 2010 )
  
• The drug deadlock
  The biology is too complicated. Pharma companies are quitting. Where are schizophrenia drugs going to come from?
  Nature 468, 158-159 ( 10 November 2010 )

Commentary

• Short-lived campaigns are not enough
  The stigma of mental illness will be reduced only if region-specific awareness initiatives become a permanent fixture of health and social services, argues Norman Sartorius.
  Nature 468, 163–165 ( 10 November 2010 )
  
• Cognitive remediation therapy needs funding
  More rigorous studies should be done on the effects of a therapy that seems to improve the everyday functioning of people with schizophrenia, says Til Wykes.
  Nature 468, 165–166 ( 10 November 2010 )
  
• In retrospect: The five lives of the psychiatry manual
  Roy Richard Grinker describes the military origins of the key reference work for diagnosing mental illness.
  Nature 468, 168–170 ( 10 November 2010 )

Audio

• Nature podcast
  Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Til Wykes, psychiatrist at Kings College London, talk about the symptoms, causes and best treatments for schizophrenia.

Perspectives

• Rethinking schizophrenia
  Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, calls for schizophrenia to be emphasized as a neurodevelopmental disorder in which psychosis is a late — and potentially curable — stage.
  Nature 468, 187–193 ( 10 November 2010 )
  
• From maps to mechanisms through neuroimaging of schizophrenia
  Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, director of the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, explains how neuroimagng and other systems-level techniques can help develop future treatment.
  Nature 468, 194–202 ( 10 November 2010 )
  
• The environment and schizophrenia
  Jim van Os, Gunter Kenis and Bart Rutten review our knowledge of the environmental factors that influence schizophrenia risk, and the major challenges that will be involved in teasing them out.
  Nature 468, 203–212 ( 10 November 2010 )