Schizophrenia

Did you know that schizophrenia affects more than 1 percent of the world's population? See NARSAD Grants at work on the latest schizophrenia research

Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic, and generally disabling brain and behavior disorder. It is most accurately described as a psychosis - a type of illness that causes severe mental disturbances that disrupt normal thoughts, speech, and behavior. Schizophrenia is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Positive symptoms may include delusions, thought disorders, and hallucinations. People with schizophrenia may hear voices other people don't hear, or believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. Negative symptoms may include avolition (a lack of desire or motivation to accomplish goals), lack of desire to form social relationships, and blunted affect and emotion. Cognitive symptoms involve problems with attention and memory, especially in planning and organization to achieve a goal. Cognitive deficits are the most disabling for patients trying to lead a normal life.

Schizohrenia research & FAQs


Visit the Schizophrenia Research Forum, fully sponsored by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation—a virtual community of scientists collaborating in their quest for causes, improved treatments, and better understanding of schizophrenia.

Visit the Schizophrenia Research Forum for more information about research

Rachel Loewy, Ph.D. - Brain and Behavior research expert on Schizophrenia
Rachel Loewy, Ph.D.
April 18, 2013

The changes to brain function that schizophrenia effects, the cognitive deficits that inflict the most devastating long-term disabilities, are difficult to reverse and can worsen with recurring psychotic episodes. Recent...

Stamatia Pappas
Stamatia Pappas
April 18, 2013

A family credits recovery from schizoaffective disorder to relatively early intervention, the right medication, never losing hope and a great therapist

Recalling her son’s last year in high school, Stamatia Pappas...

Judith L. Rapoport, M.D., expert on schizophrenia
Judith L. Rapoport, M.D.
April 18, 2013

Interview With A Researcher: Chief of Child Psychiatry at the NIMH Shares Insight

Learning how genes predispose, even if they don’t determine

Over the last decade of her distinguished career in studying...

David Foster, Ph.D., Expert on Schizophrenia
David Foster, Ph.D.
April 17, 2013

With the support of a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, David Foster, Ph.D., led research to understand spatial memory in the hippocampus area of the brain. His findings, published online today in Nature, have potential...

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Grantee David Braff, M.D., University of California, San Diego, Expert on Schizophrenia
David Braff, M.D.
April 16, 2013

Up to twelve chromosome regions may harbor genes for keeping the brain in good working order, reports a new study by Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Grantee David Braff, M.D., and his research team....

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