A Neurobiological Concept of Schizophrenia - Approach to Vulnerability -

Recent studies on long-term outcome of schizophrenia revealed that schizophrenic symptoms recover in more than 50%, while it remains severe in less than 20% after 20 years or more from the onset. Psychopharmacological studies indicate that 75% of remitted schizophrenics may recur within 2 years after discontinuation of maintenance pharmacotherapy. In addition, family studies revealed that schizophrenic decompensation may occur significantly more frequent in discharged patients with high expressed emotion family than in low expressed emotion family. These findings strongly support a clinical validity of stress-vulnerability concept of schizophrenia which open a new viewpoint to two central problems in schizophrenia treatment, i.e. psychotic relapses and chronification of the fist episode schizophrenia. Moreover, recent psychopathological studies argue that schizophrenic symptoms are manifestations of psychological reaction secondary to a primary cognitive impairment(neurobiological vulnerability), which is originated in neurobiological changes in the brain. Recent approaches to the vulnerability to schizophrenic symptoms or schizophrenic decompensation are reviewed.