Increasing evidence suggests that serious mental illness is neurodevelopmental and the onset of pre-psychotic symptoms occurs in adolescence, at a time when the cerebral cortex is still developing. As with many complex disorders (. hypertension, epilepsy, and diabetes), there appear to be many aetiological pathways that might lead to the final mixture of behavioral signs and symptoms we label ‘schizophrenia’. If there is general agreement that the key symptom domains present in schizophrenia: positive, negative, cognitive and affective, are a priority for treatment, then to what extent do currently available antipsychotic drugs succeed in ameliorating such symptoms and difficulties? Another.
