Cognitive tasks and concepts are used increasingly in schizophrenia science and treatment. Recent meta-analyses show that across a spectrum of research domains only cognitive measures distinguish a majority of schizophrenia patients from healthy people. Average effect sizes derived from common clinical tests of attention, memory, language, and…

Event-related potential (ERP) studies have demonstrated impaired auditory sensory processing in patients with schizophrenia, as reflected in abnormal mismatch negativity (MMN). We sought to extend this finding by evaluating MMN in 13 treatment-refractory patients with schizophrenia, and 14 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Subjects…

Recent advances in neuroscience show clearly how experience can change brain neurochemicals, and how this in turn affects the way the brain functions. As a result, early negative events actually get built into the growing brain's neurochemistry, altering the brain's architecture. Research is continuing to investigate how children with genetic…

In our clinical practice, we have attempted to use a positive psychology approach in working with people with schizophrenia and youths with behavioral disorders. We present three clinical applications that use a positive psychology approach with these populations: group treatment with persons with schizophrenia; individual cognitive stimulation…

In people with velo-cardio-facial syndrome [or 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS)], a single interstitial deletion of chromosome 22q11.2 causes a wide spectrum of cognitive deficits ranging from global learning difficulties to specific cognitive deficits. People with 22qDS are also at high risk of developing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder…

Epidemiological studies indicate that mental illness is considerably high among Puerto Rican adolescents in New York. Besides poverty, crowding, illiteracy, lack of skill for qualified jobs, and other sources of stress, trans-culturation is said to explain some of these facts. [Available from The Avenue Publishing Company, 18 Park Avenue, London…

Nonverbal schizophrenic patients develop individual self-expression and group interaction skills through TV stories, the focus of this article. (JS)

Intended for personnel in programs serving persons with developmental disabilities, the booklet provides basic information about the major psychiatric disorders and their treatment. Five sections cover: the major disorders; medications--uses and problems; assessment; cooordination of services; and psychiatric emergencies. Major disorders such as…

While neuropsychology relates the neural structures damaged in traumatic brain injury with their cognitive functions in daily life, this report reviews evidence that elementary operations of cognition as defined by cognitive studies are the level at which the brain localizes its computations. Orienting of visual attention is used as a model task.…

The paper first reviews previous studies made of the causes of schizophrenia as seen by mental health professionals in Western countries and in the Third World. The study at hand focuses on infantile autism and how it is viewed by professionals in the United States and Europe. Questionnaires addressed issues, characteristics and etiology,…

Abuse of alcohol or other substances by schizophrenic patients seriously undermines effective treatment. To document the extent of substance abuse among schizophrenic patients hospitalized in one Veterans Administration Hospital, medical records of 100 patients were reviewed. The results revealed that 54 patients had recent substance abuse, with…

The 14 conference papers on mental illness focus on the biological, genetic, psychopharmacological, psychopathological, and epidemiological and social factors related to psychoses. Divided into five sections each preceded by a brief introduction, entries include the following titles and authors: "The Biological Substrates of Schizophrenia" (S.…