Schizophrenia

Professor David J Castle MBChB MSc MD FRCPsych FRANZCP is the Chair of psychiatry at St Vincent's Mental Health and The University of Melbourne, Australia. He has extensive clinical and research experience across a wide array of psychiatric issues. In the area of schizophrenia, he has published widely on aspects as diverse as epidemiology, aetiology, gender differences, the role of substance use, and pharmacological and psychosocial treatments. He has published 12 books, including the British Medical Association Mental Health Book of the Year for 2005, "Marijuana and Madness " (co-edited with Prof Robin Murray, Institute of Psychiatry, London).Prof. Peter F. Buckley, MD, is the Dean of the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, Georgia, USA. Dr. Buckley completed his medical degree, residency in psychiatry, and schizophrenia fellowship at University College Dublin, School of Medicine in Ireland. His career in psychiatry has focused on the many aspects of schizophrenia, including treatment strategies and the management of treatment refractory schizophrenia, brain imaging, and the pharmacological management of comorbid conditions such as depression, substance abuse, and aggression.

Schizophrenia is a key psychiatric illness, which raises challenges for diagnosis, assessment and treatment. Given the prevalence and difficulty in treating schizophrenia, this forms an essential contribution to the Oxford Psychiatry Library series. [Do you think this would make a useful contribution to the literature?] Yes - this would provide a reference for different aspects of schizophrenia important to medical students and the practicing clinician. There is currently much interest in novel treatments for schizophrenia including CBT and these appear to be covered in this volume as well as important information on symptoms, diagnosis and special populations. The section on co-mordity I believe it also essential, given the practical problems in treatment of this group and also very recent and compelling evidence concerning the role of substance misuse.

• PART 1: THE MYTHS AND THE SCIENCE; PART 2: TREATMENTS; PART 3: INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS AND CARERS