Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

UK Carribean Migrants Have Higher Risk of Schizophrenia

UK Carribean Migrants and Schizophrenia There is a high incidence of schizophrenia amongst migrants, especially second generation Afro-Caribbeans in the UK who are getting a seven to 10-fold increased risk of getting schizophrenia. So says Professor John McGrath, of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Queensland. He along with other researchers pent three-years reviewing global studies of the disease and have found that being male is a greater risk factor than previously thought and also that certain migrant groups, including Caribbeans, are far more susceptible. Related Reading: Schizophrenia 'linked to racism' Research into schizophrenia in British African-Caribbeans Read More...

National Schizophrenia Awareness Day

National Schizophrenia Awareness Day The National Schizophrenia Foundation has declared May 24 as National Schizophrenia Awareness Day (NSAD). In its seventh year, the goal of this year's NSAD observance is to increase public awareness and understanding about schizophrenia to help "Break the Chains of Stigma." While we at schizophrenia.com fully support increasing awareness of schizophrenia in the general public - we wish that the NSF had taken a more co-ordinated and well-organized approach to the issue. Sending out a press release on one day of the year hardly counts as a serious effort at countering this issue. In the future Read More...

Crime and Schizophrenia

Crime and Schizophrenia - Recent Stories There have been two news stories this past week related to the incidence of crime by people who have schizophrenia. A new study out of Australia sounds like one of the most comprehensive I've seen - covers a 25 year period during which the researchers monitored 2800 people who had schizophrenia and compared the results to a similar number who didn't have schizophrenia. The conclusion of the study was that: "People with schizophrenia are three to five times more likely to commit crimes than those without the mental illness, the largest study yet of Read More...

New Harvard Study

New Harvard Schizophrenia Study Initiated - Volunteers Needed Researchers at Harvard Medical School are studying a new way of treating schizophrenia. Current medications only treat the symptoms of schizophrenia, not the cause. The treatment we are studying may result in a more lasting improvement of symptoms by normalizing a biological process that is thought to be irregular in this disorder. This treatment involves taking an FDA-approved medication, in addition to the subject�s current medication. We are recruiting subjects who are: - schizophrenic - 18-25 years old - taking risperidone (Risperdal) - Live in the Boston Area Compensation up to $250 Read More...

Personal Story

MIT Grad Finds Poetry in Mother's Schizophrenia; Performs Solo Show in May, National Mental Health Month A recent press release announced that a Boston-based poet and performer Michael Mack has developed a one-man play Hearing Voices (Speaking in Tongues). Mack's 90-minute monolog draws on his life as a child raised by a mother with schizophrenia. What inspired such a play? "When I was a student at MIT, I took a poetry workshop for elective credit," Mack said. "You know, easy A." But soon he found himself writing with an urgency that surprised him. Encouraged by his mentor Maxine Kumin (Pulitzer Read More...

Lack of Empathy

Lack of Empathy Part of Schizophrenia (BBC News) It is not only autistic people who have a reduced ability to empathise with others - it also happens in conditions such as schizophrenia and depression. And Dr Michael Isaac, of Lewisham University Hospital in London, said that empathy was something that could be learned to an extent in some people who exhibit autistic-like behaviour. While this news report is focused on Autism - many of the same issues relating to lack of Empathy are common to people with schizophrenia - and so it is likely that the approach to improving empathy Read More...

Cellular Cause of Schizophrenia

Cellular Cause Identified in Schizophrenia Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have reported an important cellular discovery in the cause of schizophrenia. In at least 10 populations around the world, a significant association between schizophrenia and the gene for dysbindin has been noted, making dysbindin the most highly replicated schizophrenia-associated gene described to date. This research highlights the fact that there are a number pathways to the development of schizophrenia - both genetic and environmental. Increasingly this research suggests that a significant percentage of schizophrenia cases can be prevented by greater care and awareness of the risks during pregnancy and Read More...

Flu and Schizophrenia

A recent research study by Columbia University identified that approximately 14% of schizophrenia cases seem to have been caused by influenza during pregnancy. The study indicated that Flu during the first trimester of pregnancy increased risk of developing schizophrenia in the child by approx. 700%, while flu during the third trimester increased schizophrenia risk for the child by 300%. "This is the first time that this association has been shown using" blood tests that confirmed influenza infection during pregnancy, lead author Dr. Alan S. Brown, from Columbia University in New York, told Reuters Health. "It provides what I think is Read More...

Trials launched to test treatment of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia

Trials launched to test treatment of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia One persistent problem that discussion group members here report are cognitive impairments due to negative symptoms: trouble concentrating, memory problems, etc. This article indicates that "the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a four-year, $9 million contract to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and five other academic medical centers to create a network of Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia (TURNS). The research will test the effectiveness of new drug treatments for the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. Read More...