Content area
Abstract
[...] a recent report froma patient advocacy group reported that in the US those with serious mental illness were three times more likely to be found in the criminal justice system than in hospitals. (http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org) Although many have attributed this lack of progress to failed systems of care (http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/), we still do not have a basic understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder and therefore lack the tools for curative treatment or prevention needed for most people with schizophrenia. A focus on cognitive symptoms has led to a more recent hypothesis of schizophrenia as a 'glutamate disorder' (reviewed in ref. 11) Healthy volunteers given low doses of NMDA receptor antagonists, such as ketamine, manifest select aspects of schizophrenia, including some of the attentional and memory problems.





