Dendritic spines act as hubs for communication between nerve cells. Reductions in spines may contribute to a lack of coordination in activity between brain regions. This structural abnormality is…

Smoking pot may be linked to worsening schizophrenia, according to a new study.

Researchers say the results also suggest that among those likely to develop the disease, those who…

Exposure to the common virus that causes cold sores may be partially responsible for shrinking regions of the brain and the loss of concentration skills,…

New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system…

By analyzing the genomes of patients with schizophrenia, genetics researchers have discovered numerous copy number variations—deletions or duplications of DNA sequences—that increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. Significantly,…

In what may provide the most compelling evidence to date, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have illuminated how a genetic variant may lead to schizophrenia…

Rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregnant had smaller brains and showed other brain changes similar to those observed in human patients…

The brain is the core of an individual’s personality, but some times it becomes one’s enemy when it starts acting as another individual and creates an entire living world which…

Reports that the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, may appeal against his conviction on the ground of diminished responsibility because he had paranoid schizophrenia when he murdered his victims can only reinforce…

In reports of two new studies, researchers led by Johns Hopkins say they have identified the mechanisms rooted in two anatomical brain abnormalities that may explain the onset…

An industry-sponsored randomized, double-blind trial of depot olanzapine for the prevention of relapse of schizophrenia is reported in this issue. Its publication raises several issues for readers…

Taking fish oil may help prevent full-blown psychotic illness in at-risk adolescents and young adults, a study released today hints.

These at-risk individuals may have weak or transient psychotic symptoms,…

Questioning the theory that prenatal exposure to the flu virus might be a risk factor for schizophrenia, a new study finds no link between the flu pandemic of 1957 and…

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered that patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have higher levels of inflammatory substances in their brains. Their findings offer hope of being able to…

An international study of more than 17,000 people with schizophrenia has found striking similarities in symptoms, medication, employment and sexual problems, despite the fact that…

A large new study confirms that people with severe mental disorders — such as schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders — are 25 percent to 40…

Johns Hopkins scientists report having used a commercially available drug to successfully “rescue” animal brain cells that they had intentionally damaged by manipulating a newly discovered gene…

Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more…

Researchers say antiepilectic drug treatments administered when the brain is developing appear to trigger schizophrenia-like behavior in animal models. In humans, having a history of seizures…

For decades, scientists have thought the faulty neural wiring that predisposes individuals to behavioral disorders like autism and psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia must occur during development.…

Scientists now have a better understanding of a perplexing gene that is associated with susceptibility for a wide spectrum of severely debilitating mental illnesses. Two independent…

Schizophrenia is a major public health problem. Affecting almost 1% of the world’s population, it takes an enormous economic and social toll in addition to the distress, dysfunction, disability and mortality for those…

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine demonstrates that there is an association between schizophrenia and violence, but shows that this association is greatly increased…

For the first time, an international group of researchers has found genetic evidence linking schizophrenia to a specific region of DNA – on chromosome 6. This is…

A trio of genome-wide studies – collectively the largest to date – has pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of…