Re: Can pcp and neuroscience jointly help schizophrenics?

Su McLain, Ph.D. (sumclain@meta3.net)
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 21:48:27 -0800

Tony Downing wrote:
......
> Schizophrenia is to some extent still an open question, but in the light of
> the Capgras phenomenon it seems to me to be unwise and unnecessaryto set up
> definitions that exclude the possibility of an interface with neuroscience.
>
> Having said that, it may indeed be instructive to see how far we can go in
> defining schizophrenia in purely constructivist terms, but there is no need
> to be hostile towards psychiatry and the medical model, or to confuse
> schizophrenics with revolutionaries or criminals.

I find this thread very interesting, and have been just listening up to
now. I find myself wondering what one is to make of PET scans that
demonstrate different areas of the brain at work in persons with
"schizophrenia" compared to persons without "schizophrenia?" Having
worked for over a year with extremely behaviorally disturbed women who
paced the floor and reported hallucinations, I find I resonate a great
deal to Tony Downing's comments. It seems to me that PET scans open
other possibilities for understanding how neural pathways for construing
are affected by brain damage.

Su McLain, Ph.D.
Psychology Dept.
Mississippi State Hospital
Whitfield, MS 39193
Ph: 601/351-8000, ext. 4978
sumclain@meta3.net

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%