Although it has been known for 100 years that cognitive functioning is impaired in schizophrenia, the implications of this impairment have o nly recently been clearly understood. While in the past, cognitive def icits were thought to be the result of other aspects of the illness, s uch as poor co-operation, or as a result of the treatment of the illne ss, it is now known that these factors exert only a very minor influen ce on cognitive deficit. This book, with contributions from the major international names in the field, reviews the most recent research on the impairment of cognitive...

New developments in the basic and clinical neurosciences have lead to important advances in our understanding of the events that occur between conception and birth that can influence schizophrenia. At the other end of the life span, some of the most exciting developments in years have recently been coming out of comprehensive studies of post-mortem studies of patients with schizophrenia. In the clinical domain, studies of first episode patients with schizophrenia are proliferating, at the same time as many research groups are performing comprehensive studies of patients with schizophrenia who...

This volume is unique in adopting a lifespan approach to understanding schizophrenia. There are many aspects of schizophrenia that require research attention from a lifespan perspective. For example, there may be aspects of the behavior or biological functioning that are present before the illness that change an individual's risk for developing the illness. There may be environmental events that can cause schizophrenia in the absence of other predisposing factors. There may be genetic influences on the development of schizophrenia that are modified by environmental events, either...