Over the last two decades, scientific articles on schizophrenia have doubled in number, and prophecies of breakthrough have appeared and receded. The result is a scattered and confusing mass of evidence that is difficult to evaluate. How much progress has really been made? Are the neurological causes of madness truly in sight? This book evaluates the progress of schizophrenia science by summarizing what is known about how patients with the illness differ from healthy people. The tools of meta-analysis are first explained and then employed to make the strength and consistency of these differences explicit. Beginning with the study of symptoms, then moving through the search for objective disease markers, findings on the cognitive functions, structure, physiology, chemistry, and development of the brain, this book is a journey into the enigma of madness and its science. What emerges is an illness that reveals itself most strongly in thought processes, not biology. As evidence actually becomes weaker and harder to reproduce as research moves from mind to molecule, the harvest of dazzling research techniques turns out to be modest or inconsistent. Schizophrenia is an anomaly at the frontier of mind and brain, but In Search of Madness points the way to its solution.

R. Walter Heinrichs' profile page

R. Walter Heinrichs is at York University.

"Since 1980, approximately 2,00 research articles per year have been published about schizophrenia. In this volume, Heinrichs York Univ., Toronto) reviews this literature and performs meta-analyses on 54 neurobiological, cognitive, and psychophysical factors thought to characterize schizophrenia. . .This work is an excellent illustration of the use of meta-analytic techniques. . .Individuals seeking neuroscientific explanations for schizophrenia must read it."--CHOICE

"I admire someone like R. Walter Heinrichs who is not afraid to wrestle with a moving mountainHeinrichs has attempted to evaluate all studies on schizophrenia published since 1980 and to weigh the quality of evidence on various theories of this disease. To his credit, he does so by using rules of evidence, meta-analyses, calculations of the effect size, and than 1,000 references. In Search of Madness: Schizophrenia and Neuroscience is well organized and well writtenThe authors provide a practical review of acute psychopharmacology and behavioral intervention techniques to assist the clinician in this endeavor."--Psychiatric Services, E. Fuller Torrey

"This book by Heinrichs is one of the most scholarly treatises by a single author that I have read in the past decade. What makes it unique is that it is written by a research neuropsychologist and that it attempts to integrate a vast array of clinical and research findings regarding the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. . . . . This book will be a treat for schizophrenia researchers in particular and clinical neuroscience researchers in general. It will serve as an excellent reference for students and trainees in psychiatry, psychology, neurology, and cognitive science. Although intensely evidence based, the book is highly readable and unfolds its content in an intellectually pleasing, systematic approach. . . . [F]or those in search of a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the major modern themes of schizophrenia research, this is a highly worthwhile book to own and to refer to repeatedly." -- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry