Treating schizophrenia earlier in life and the potential for prevention

Early detection and intervention in schizophrenia has captured increasing attention of clinicians and clinical researchers in the past decade. It has obvious public health value for active first psychosis but it also holds potential for changing the course of disorder in ways that supercede symptom control. The research bearing upon the early phase of disorder, especially that presented recently at the March/April 2000 meeting of The International Early Psychosis Association in New York, is reviewed.