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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

Wayne Drevets, M.D., expert on bipolar disorder
Wayne Drevets, M.D.
March 01, 2013

WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH CONFERENCE: THE ART & SCIENCE OF CARING

On September 14, 2012 the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation hosted a Women’s Mental Health Conference: The Art & Science of Caring in...

Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., expert on anxiety and stress
Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.
March 01, 2013

How early in life does exposure to stress raise a child’s likelihood to suffer anxiety, depression, or other stress-related disorders? If the child is a girl, the answer appears to be very early. This is one of the...

Albert Bensimon lives with depression
Albert Bensimon
March 01, 2013

On February 29, 2000, Albert Bensimon, then in his early fifties, stepped into the waters off Laguna Beach, California, and kept on walking, not intending to stop. His recollection of the day is hazy, but he does remember...

Dennis S. Charney, M.D., Expert on Anxiety and Resiliency
Dennis S. Charney, M.D.
March 01, 2013

“I’m a big believer in mothers.”

This is Dr. Dennis Charney speaking, and it is a remark that both charms and disarms the listener—so down to earth, yet coming from one of the most sophisticated and accomplished...
NARSAD Grantee Jordan Smoller, M.D., Sc.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Expert on Schizophrenia, Depression, Anxiety, Autism
Jordan Smoller, M.D., Sc.D.,
March 01, 2013

Many NARSAD Grantees and Scientific Council Members of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation are among hundreds of researchers seeing the fruits of a worldwide, six-year-long collaboration that proved that five...

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