ABSTRACT

This second edition of Schizophrenia: A Practical Primer, includes decades of clinical and research experience in the field and helps readers understand what schizophrenia is and how it is managed.

Schizophrenia is a devastating illness that affects more than 50 million people worldwide. Written to help anyone who is faced with managing schizophrenia, whether as a clinician, patient, friend, or family member, this accessible book is an ideal first stop for practical, up-to-date information. It includes an overview of schizophrenia and provides answers to common questions that arise on different aspects of the illness, such as: diagnosis, pharmacological and psychotherapeutic management, treatment challenges and achieving recovery. Beyond these key issues, the book includes developments in the neurobiology of the illness, foreseeable developments and the history of schizophrenia. It also includes brief, realistic case vignettes adapted from clinical experience, and questions interspersed throughout the book to aid understanding.

This book is essential for professional trainee and early-career mental-health workers, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors and nurses, and is written to cover in a concise and accessible way what is of immediate and practical relevance to gain familiarity with schizophrenia.

chapter chapter 1|7 pages

What is and is not schizophrenia?

chapter chapter 2|16 pages

Assessment of schizophrenia

chapter chapter 3|8 pages

Social determinants of health affecting assessment

chapter chapter 4|4 pages

Schizophrenia, spirituality and religion

chapter chapter 5|9 pages

Putting together the (clinical) pieces

chapter chapter 6|12 pages

Talking to patients and families

chapter chapter 7|6 pages

Early intervention and prevention for schizophrenia

chapter chapter 8|11 pages

Managing symptoms and preventing relapse

Pharmacological approach

chapter chapter 10|8 pages

Managing treatment-related complications

chapter chapter 11|9 pages

Suboptimal treatment response

chapter chapter 12|11 pages

Medication nonadherence

chapter chapter 13|7 pages

Managing decompensation and relapse

chapter chapter 14|6 pages

Suicide and violence

chapter chapter 15|8 pages

Achieving recovery

chapter chapter 16|6 pages

History of schizophrenia

chapter chapter 17|8 pages

Who gets schizophrenia and why?

chapter chapter 18|10 pages

Neurobiology of schizophrenia

chapter chapter 19|8 pages

What does the future hold?