Secondary Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia may not be a single disease but the result of a diverse set of related conditions. Modern neuroscience is beginning to reveal some of the genetic and environmental underpinnings of schizophrenia; however an approach less well travelled is to examine the medical disorders that produce symptoms resembling schizophrenia. This book is the first major attempt to bring together the diseases that produce what has been termed secondary schizophrenia. International experts from diverse backgrounds ask the questions: does this medical disorder or drug or condition cause psychosis? If yes does it resemble schizophrenia? What mechanisms form the basis of this relationship? What implications does this understanding have for aetiology and treatment? The answers are a feast for clinicians and researchers of psychosis and schizophrenia. They mark the next step in trying to meet the most important challenge to modern neuroscience – understanding and conquering this most mysterious of human diseases.