Studies toward the subcortical pathogenesis of schizophrenia

In addition to introducing the six articles joined by our thematic outlook, this article addresses the importance of subcortical structures as they may be related to information processing and the life experience of schizophrenic patients. This is a heuristic exercise aimed at bridging the conceptual gaps between clinical and research approaches to schizophrenia. A brief overview is then provided of current conceptualizations of a number of subcortical structures, each of which may play a part in the subcortical pathogenesis of schizophrenia in specific patients. The central concepts are failures in the "automaticity" with which prior experience may be recreated in parallel with current stimulus input in schizophrenia (with concomitant failures in future orientation or contextually generated expectancy), and the view of subcortical structures as constituting a "system" in which no single type of defect may be common to all schizophrenic patients.