Preventive pharmacological treatment --an evolving new concept in schizophrenia

Treatment for schizophrenia remains one of the major challenges of modern medicine. The development of innovative pharmacological approaches for this disorder can potentially alleviate tremendous human suffering and revolutionize mental health delivery systems. While current treatment guidelines for schizophrenia refer to the post-psychosis onset phase of illness, presently there is a strong resurgent interest in secondary prevention intervention applied during schizophrenia prodrome. This development stems largely from the recognition that neurobiological deficit processes associated with schizophrenia severity and chronicity are already active by the time clinical onset is recognized. Proposed preventive treatments include presently used medications and experimental compounds that hypothetically may influence ongoing pathophysiological processes earlier in their development. The future establishment of the early recognition and intervention concept in schizophrenia is critically dependent on the outcome of ongoing research assessing the feasibility of prodrome diagnosis, the efficacy of specific medications and the alleviation of the risks associated with early pharmacological treatment.