ABSTRACT
Over the past 20 years the pattern on research on schizophrenia has changed from a concentration on the study of the adult patient in hospital, to one which now encompasses a wider spectrum of investigation. Because of a movement away from a view of the disorder emphasizing a categorical distinction between the schizophrenic patient qua patient and the rest of the population, work has looked for some of the characteristics to be found in patients in those in remission, in the pre-morbid state, in normal relatives of patients, and in members of the general public thought of displaying 'schizotypic' characteristics. Thus, there has been a move from a categorical to a dimensional point of view. The clear distinction between the 'mad' and the 'sane' is no longer drawn (see Chapter 6 by Claridge in this volume).
