Synopsis

Schizophrenia is a common, debilitating psychiatric disorder with profound impact on cognitive and social functions. There are several areas in which structural and functional brain imaging are advancing understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder. Beyond identifying illness associated features, these include: 1) identifying biologically homogeneous subgroups of patients within and across disorders, 2) providing quantitative traits for identifying genetic associations, 3) clarifying how antipsychotic drugs alter brain systems, and 4) characterizing long term progression of illness. This presentation will review progress in each of these areas.