Claim: Promise of faster, more accessible schizophrenia diagnosis, Rutgers study shows
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Rosenhan experiment
text: including rundown and underfunded public hospitals in rural areas, urban university-run hospitals with excellent reputations, and one expensive private hospital. Though presented with identical symptoms, seven were diagnosed with schizophrenia at public hospitals, and one with manic-depressive psychosis, a more optimistic diagnosis with better clinical outcomes, at the private hospital. Their stays ranged from 7 to 52 days, and the average was 19 days. All were discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia "in remission," which Rosenhan considered as evidence that mental illness is perceived as an irreversible condition creating a lifelong stigma rather than a curable illness. Despite constantly and

title: Diagnosis of schizophrenia
text: out brain abnormalities, and their benefit is very limited at that. Structural alterations have, however, been identified in schizophrenia, most commonly enlarged ventricles, and decreased grey matter volume in the cortex and hippocampus. Studies using functional MRI have also shown that altered connectivity and activity in present in schizophrenia. In the last decade interest has grown in the use of machine learning to automatically perform the diagnosis task using brain imaging data. While these algorithms are very robust at distinguishing schizophrenia patients from healthy subjects, they still cannot perform the tasks clinicians struggle the most with - differential diagnosis and

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: and statistics places the estimate at 4.9%, most often occurring in the period following onset or first hospital admission. Several times more attempt suicide. There are a variety of reasons and risk factors. After long-term follow-up half of people with schizophrenia have a favourable outcome while 16% have a delayed recovery after an early unremitting course. More usually, the course in the first two years predicted the long-term course. Early social intervention was also related to a better outcome. The findings were held as important in moving patients, careers and clinicians away from the prevalent belief of the chronic nature

title: Sex differences in schizophrenia
text: global outcome, and recovery across periods of 15-20 years. Several studies have demonstrated that women with schizophrenia are more likely to exhibit significantly greater reduction in psychotic symptoms, as well as better cognitive and global functioning relative to men. Additionally, studies have found that women are more likely to experience a period of recovery across the lifespan than men. Further, there is consistent evidence of higher mortality rates, suicide attempts and completions, homelessness, poorer family and social support in men compared to women. It is currently unclear the extent to which these observed differences can be attributed to age of

title: Diagnosis of schizophrenia
text: more fundamental cognitive impairments that are harder to assess due to large variations in presentation. This view is supported by other psychiatrists. In the same vein, Ming Tsuang and colleagues argue that psychotic symptoms may be a common end-state in a variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, rather than a reflection of the specific etiology of schizophrenia, and warn that there is little basis for regarding DSM’s operational definition as the "true" construct of schizophrenia. Neuropsychologist Michael Foster Green went further in suggesting the presence of specific neurocognitive deficits may be used to construct phenotypes that are alternatives to those that

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: wider community. Numerous international studies have demonstrated favorable long-term outcomes for around half of those diagnosed with schizophrenia, with substantial variation between individuals and regions. One retrospective study found that about a third of people made a full recovery, about a third showed improvement but not a full recovery, and a third remained ill. A clinical study using strict recovery criteria (concurrent remission of positive and negative symptoms and adequate social and vocational functioning continuously for two years) found a recovery rate of 14% within the first five years. A 5-year community study found that 62% showed overall improvement on

title: Linda M. Brzustowicz
text: of moderately large extended families from eastern Canada, and have identified "a major schizophrenia susceptibility locus on chromosome 1q21-22 with a multipoint lod score of 6.50 (p<0.0002)." Using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), they have also detected a significant linkage of the severity of positive symptoms of schizophrenia to chromosome 6. Linda M. Brzustowicz Linda M. Brzustowicz (born November 13, 1960) is a professor of genetics at Rutgers University and a member of the Motif BioSciences Scientific Advisory Board, whose main purpose is to develop technology that will benefit all laboratories using "biosamples," or samples of blood, DNA,

title: Schizophrenia
text: 1971 US–UK Diagnostic Study that schizophrenia was diagnosed to a far greater extent in America than in Europe. This was partly due to looser diagnostic criteria in the US, which used the DSM-II manual, contrasting with Europe and its ICD-9. David Rosenhan's 1972 study, published in the journal "Science" under the title "On being sane in insane places", concluded that the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the US was often subjective and unreliable. These were some of the factors leading to the revision not only of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, but the revision of the whole DSM manual, resulting in the

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: questions about the effectiveness of such drug-based treatments. On its face, psychiatric medication itself may be causing the worse Western-society outcomes. Large-scale, randomized, blinded studies of alternatives are warranted. In many non-Western societies, schizophrenia may only be treated with more informal, community-led methods. Multiple international surveys by the World Health Organization over several decades have indicated that the outcome for people diagnosed with schizophrenia in non-Western countries is on average better there than for people in the West. Many clinicians and researchers hypothesize that this difference is due to relative levels of social connectedness and acceptance, although further cross-cultural studies

title: Diagnosis of schizophrenia
text: Studies also suggest there is a genetic overlap between schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. These factors complicate the use of genetic tests in diagnosis or prediction of the onset of schizophrenia. If signs of disturbance are present for more than a month but less than six months, the diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder is applied. Psychotic symptoms lasting less than a month may be diagnosed as brief psychotic disorder, and various conditions may be classed as psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. Schizoaffective disorder is diagnosed if symptoms

title: History of schizophrenia
text: concluded that the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the US was often subjective and unreliable. In the Soviet Union the diagnosis of schizophrenia has also been used for political purposes. The prominent Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky created and promoted an additional sub-classification of sluggishly progressing schizophrenia. This diagnosis was used to discredit and expeditiously imprison political dissidents while dispensing with a potentially embarrassing trial. The practice was exposed to Westerners by a number of Soviet dissidents, and in 1977 the World Psychiatric Association condemned the Soviet practice at the Sixth World Congress of Psychiatry. Rather than defending his claim that a

title: Diagnosis of schizophrenia
text: significant etiological heterogeneity. Schizophrenia is diagnosed 1.4 times more frequently in males than females, with onset peaking at ages 20–28 years for males and 4–10 years later in females Females show more psychotic and affective symptoms than males, and have less social impairment. Men present more often with negative symptoms and disorganization. These differences are likely due to the protective effects of estrogen and are correlated with estrogen expression. Early-onset schizophrenia occurs from ages 20–30, late-onset occurs after the age of 40, and very-late-onset after the age of 60. It is estimated that 15% of the population with schizophrenia are

title: Linda M. Brzustowicz
text: recent times, causing speculation about the debatable "autism epidemic," such research is invaluable. Brzustowicz and other geneticists at Rutgers are currently organizing a project to collect a new sample of families chosen for both autism and a history of language impairment in non-autistic family members in order to conduct a genome scan. In addition they are currently conducting genetic association studies of autism using samples from the AGRE and NIMH Human Genetics Initiative collections. Brzustowicz and others, in collaboration with Dr. Anne Bassett at the University of Toronto, have conducted a genome-wide genetic linkage study of schizophrenia with a set

title: Self-awareness
text: large discrepancy in patients’ assessment of their cognitive functioning relative to the assessment of their clinicians. Though it is impossible to access ones’ consciousness and truly understand what a schizophrenic believes, regardless in this study, patients were not aware of their cognitive dysfunctional reasoning. In the DSM-5, to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia, they must have two or more of the following symptoms in the duration of one month: delusions*, hallucinations*, disorganized speech*, grossly disorganized/catatonic behavior and negative symptoms (*these three symptoms above all other symptoms must be present to correctly diagnose a patient.) Sometimes these symptoms are very prominent

title: Evolutionary approaches to schizophrenia
text: on the fact that the 1% prevalence rate is higher than gene mutation rates. This view sees benefits that promote the fitness of individuals, kins, or groups and thus enhance chance of survival. The benefits of schizophrenia are likely to buffer the deficits of the disorder and thus balance the selective pressures. Researchers who see individual advantages in schizophrenia believe that the disorder itself can make individuals more tolerant towards harmful factors like shock and infections. This view has not been substantiated. Another related model suggests that certain traits in schizophrenia may have helped with developing territorial instincts, thus becoming

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: a composite measure of symptomatic, clinical and functional outcomes. Rates are not always comparable across studies because an exact definition of what constitutes recovery has not been widely accepted, although standardized criteria have been suggested. The World Health Organization conducted two long-term follow-up studies involving more than 2,000 people suffering from schizophrenia in different countries. These studies found patients have much better long-term outcomes in developing countries (India, Colombia and Nigeria) than in developed countries (USA, UK, Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, and Russia), despite the fact that antipsychotic drugs are typically not widely available in poorer countries, raising

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: ongoing disability with relapses. Still some people do recover completely and additional numbers function well in society. Most people with schizophrenia live independently with community support. In people with a first episode of psychosis a good long-term outcome occurs in 42% of cases, an intermediate outcome in 35% of cases, and a poor outcome in 27% of cases. Outcome for schizophrenia appear better in the developing than the developed world. These conclusions however have been questioned. There is a higher than average suicide rate associated with schizophrenia. This has been cited at 10%, but a more recent analysis of studies

title: Prognosis of schizophrenia
text: of the condition. This outcome on average however is worse than for other psychotic and otherwise psychiatric disorders though a moderate number of people with schizophrenia were seen to remit and remain well, some of these without need for maintenance medication. A clinical study using strict recovery criteria (concurrent remission of positive and negative symptoms and adequate social and vocational functioning continuously for two years) found a recovery rate of 14% within the first five years. A 5-year community study found that 62% showed overall improvement on a composite measure of clinical and functional outcomes. Rates are not always comparable

title: Schizophrenia
text: better. In those who do not improve with other antipsychotics clozapine may be tried. In more serious situations where there is risk to self or others involuntary hospitalization may be necessary, although hospital stays are now shorter and less frequent than they once were. About 0.3% to 0.7% of people are affected by schizophrenia during their lifetimes. In 2013 there were an estimated 23.6 million cases globally. Males are more often affected, and on average experience more severe symptoms. About 20% of people eventually do well and a few recover completely, while about 50% have lifelong impairment. Social problems, such

title: Schizophrenia and tobacco smoking
text: today research focuses on neurobiology. Increased rates of smoking among people with schizophrenia have a number of serious impacts, including increased rates of mortality, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced treatment effectiveness, and greater financial hardship. Studies have also shown that in a male population, having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder puts a patient at risk of excess tobacco use. As a result, researchers believe it is important for mental health professionals to combat smoking among people with schizophrenia. A number of theories have been proposed to explain increased rates of smoking among people with schizophrenia. Several psychological and social explanations