The use of pharmacotherapy in the prodrome of schizophrenia

In treating schizophrenia there has been a shift in focus, with more attention being paid to early intervention based on the notion that effective treatment at this point can improve outcome. Most of this work has centred on pharmacotherapeutic interventions during the first psychotic break. More recently, attention has turned to the potential value of intervening even earlier, that is during the so-called "prodrome" that has been identified as predating the first psychotic break by as much as 4-5 years. We now have a limited number of published reports addressing this topic and these are reviewed here.