What's the latest on Schizophrenia?

Hi @Dorothys_friend , I don't know any latest information on schizophrenia, sorry, but I just wanted to welcome you to the forums. I hope some other people will be along with the information you requested.

You can search 'schizophrenia' in the search bar if you like...another handy forum tip is if you type @ then click on a name in the drop-down box, that person will get a notification of your reply and won't miss it.

I hope you enjoy being a part of the forums.

Hi @Dorothys_friend , have you checked out the National Elf Service? It's a UK blog about current health research which breaks down papers into more readable language for healthcare professionals.

https://www.nationalelfservice.net/mental-health/schizophrenia/

There's also ScienceDaily, an American website which publishes press releases about scientific research:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/schizophrenia/

You can also play with PubMed's search to get you free review articles from the last 5 years:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%28+%22Schizophrenia%22+%29+AND+Review%5Bptyp%5D+AND+free+full+text%5Bsb%5D+AND+%22last+5+years%22%5BPDat%5D

or

free not-necessarily-review articles from the last 5 years:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%28+%22Schizophrenia%22+%29+AND+free+full+text%5Bsb%5D+AND+%22last+5+years%22%5BPDat%5D

Not-necessarily-review articles are better for the very edge of research, but may be inaccurate - review articles are a bit more grounded in more studies. Hope this helps. 🙂

Hi @Dorothys_friend , great question.

Wow @Gwynn fantastic set of links there!

My reading on schizophrenia and the recent research is the recent research into the role of inflammation in schizophrenia. See here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00160/full

I know my first psychosis had a physical (organic) cause, being encephalitis. Now, many years later my CRP levels were high last time I had them tested. I never followed it up but I do wonder if there's more to it than just a dopamine imbalance.

The other research I've found talks about the gut-brain connection. Our digestive system makes the neurotransmitter, serotonin, like our brain does. Also, our brains rely on glucose for energy or to 'power' our cognitive processes. Then also, apparently our microorganisms in our guts and bowel can have an influence on our mental wellbeing. I found taking fish oil supplements has helped me a lot. I'm also starting to look into pre and pro-biotics to see if there's evidence yet for those. So, you really are what you eat! Sorry that's a jumbled mix of ideas but these are the current ideas I've been learning about for recovery from schizophrenia /schizoaffective disorder.

I love statistics/data too when it can give science-based evidence about causes, risk factors and treatments for health issues.