Encyclopedia of Schizophrenia: Focus on Management Options

This mini-encyclopedia aims to provide a survey of the wide range of interventions available for treating schizophrenia at a level appropriate for non-specialists who are beginning their engagement in the area and for others as a source of reference for the specialist. The pharmacological options are considered alongside psychosocial management approaches and the advantages and disadvantages of each treatment modality are outlined. The entries are written by leading experts, including basic and clinical scientists in academia and industry, and include descriptions of many relevant fundamental psychological and biological processes of the disorder. The volume owes much to the Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology edited by Ian Stolerman IP (published by Springer-Verlag in 2010), from which some entries are reproduced. Where entries deal with pharmacological interventions, the aim is to provide detailed information on the neuropsychopharmacology of the substances from domains such as clinical, experimental, and molecular pharmacology, insofar as they impact upon understanding of schizophrenia. Articles on non-drug interventions review the most recent evidence base related to commonly applied psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative measures. Other essays focus upon the key concepts and research methods used in the field, describing the main features of investigative techniques and outlining their roles, the types of information obtained and why they are needed; the advantages and limitations of a technique may also be summarized. The essays are complemented by many short definitions of important terms; in the interest of ease of reading, these definitions are not assigned to named authors; they are typically related to specific essays that they cross-reference and relevant authorship details can be found in the latter.