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Arlington, Virginia — The lead paper in the October 2002 edition of the journal Schizophrenia Research confirms that schizophrenia is a brain disease, in exactly the same sense that Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis are brain diseases. 

The paper reviewed 65 research projects carried out on individuals with schizophrenia who had never been treated with any antipsychotic medication. In many, the individual had only recently been diagnosed with the disease. 

In recent years, many critics of psychiatry have suggested that the brain abnormalities described in schizophrenia are caused by medications being taken by the patients. This review refutes that thesis. It is now clear that schizophrenia, like many other brain diseases, produces abnormalities in brain structure and function. These abnormalities are inherent in the disease process and not caused by medications. 

ABOUT THE PAPER. The 65 research projects measured the structure and function of brains of individuals with schizophrenia and compared these with normal controls. Neurological and neuropsychological measures of brain function showed the most consistent and largest differences between patients and controls. Measures of brain structure, such as MRIs, and measures of brain metabolism, such as PET scans, were also significantly different but less impressive. The brain abnormalities were not localized to a single part of the brain but instead implicated a variety of interrelated regions at the base of the brain. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. The paper's author, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, is executive director of The Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., and president of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va. Dr. Torrey is a leading research psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness. He is the author of 20 books and more than 200 lay and professional papers. "Studies of Individuals with Schizophrenia Never Treated with Antipsychotic Medications: A Review," is the lead article in the October 2002 Schizophrenia Research. View the full paper in HTML at /GeneralResources/report-nevertreated.htm. 

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The Treatment Advocacy Center (www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illnesses. TAC promotes laws, policies, and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.