Research carried out on people in Scotland at high risk of developing schizophrenia has led to hopes of a new approach to treating the disease.

 

Psychiatrists believe that people at risk of developing the condition may be able to be identified years before they develop the distressing symptoms. It could lead to treatment being offered to help prevent the onset of the disease.

 

Findings of research carried out in Edinburgh into the early identification of schizophrenia were outlined at the annual conference of the Royal College of Psychiatrists today.

 

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have been tracking a group of more than 150 people at high risk of schizophrenia since 1994. The individuals, who come from all over Scotland, have two or more close relatives with the disease.

 

So far 20 of the group have gone on to develop schizophrenia and a comparison between them and those who remain well has shown clear differences which may be used to help identify the condition at an early stage.

 

Professor Eve Johnstone of the University’s Department of Psychiatry, said the research has identified 38 different factors between the high risk individuals who have developed schizophrenia and those who have had less severe symptoms or who have remained completely well.

 

Changes have been found in the function and anatomy of their brain and it has also been shown that those who develop the disease suffer from much higher levels of anxiety, depression and memory loss prior to falling ill.

 

Professor Johnstone said relatives of people at high risk had hoped the research would help to predict what the future may hold. She said that should be possible, but added that the benefits may extend even further.

 

“If we could treat the anxiety, the depression and the memory loss, we may be able to hold them in a state of vulnerability, but in a way that stops the individual cards from falling and bringing the whole house down,” she said.

 

Her colleague, Dr Stephen Lawrie, who has also been involved in the research at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, said that studies of brain function can help to predict who will go on to develop schizophrenia up to seven years before symptoms appear.

 

He told the conference that he was prepared to stick his neck out to claim that this could lead to a diagnostic test for schizophrenia. “We may be able to detect this condition years in advance. It will allow us to use interventions to prevent these patients becoming ill with what has been described as the worst disease affecting mankind.”

 

For further information, please contact Liz Fox or Deborah Hart in the Communications Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127

E-mail: efox@rcpsych.ac.uk or dhart@rcpsych.ac.uk