Author:
MARENCO STEFANO,WEINBERGER DANIEL R.
Abstract
This is a critical review of the literature related to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of
schizophrenia which posits that the illness is related to abnormal brain development. The review
focuses on data deriving from clinical studies, and it is organized according to the life phase from
which the data were collected: conception and birth, infancy and childhood up to the onset of the
illness, after illness onset, and postmortem. The neurodevelopmental hypothesis is supported by
several pieces of evidence, including increased frequency of obstetric complications in patients
with schizophrenia; the presence of minor physical anomalies; the presence of neurological,
cognitive, and behavioral dysfunction long before illness onset; a course and outcome of the
illness itself that is incompatible in most cases with a degenerative illness; the stability of brain
structural measures over time; and the absence of postmortem evidence of neurodegeneration. A
historical perspective on how this research accumulated and a section addressing important areas
of future investigation are also provided. We conclude that schizophrenia is certainly not a
degenerative brain disorder, and that it is likely that a brain insult in utero or at birth plays a role
in its expression. Current evidence cannot completely exclude the role of environmental
variables after birth. In addition, it is possible that other psychiatric disorders may also have a
neurodevelopmental component.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health,Developmental and Educational Psychology
Cited by
390 articles.
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