ABSTRACT

This chapter examines schizophrenia from a developmental perspective. We describe two different, though complimentary, approaches to understanding the development of the schizophrenic disorders. These approaches feature the examination of: (1) “core” impairments at different stages of the schizophrenic disorder and, (2) a description of the “natural history” (i.e., chronology of symptom development, premorbid functioning and course) of childhood onset schizophrenia. We will summarize findings from these two approaches, which may help explicate how schizophrenic disorders develop.