title: Is active psychosis neurotoxic?
abstract: Positive symptoms of psychosis disrupt mentation. Do they also engineer brain cell death and deterioration? This hypothesis is currently popular as an explanation of the duration of untreated psychosis effect in early schizophrenia. The clinical and neurobiological evidence for its validity is visited and found wanting. Synaptic plasticity, not neurotoxicity, appears to be the mediating process.
authors.affiliation: thomas.mcglashan@yale.edu
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: McGlashan
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents