Schizophrenia research: A progress report, summarizing proceedings of the 1999 International Congress on Schizophrenia Research

Abstract

The Seventh International Congress on Schizophrenia Research was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in April 1999. This was the largest Congress meeting to date, with almost 1,000 presentations that covered all aspects of schizophrenia research. This article provides an account of the Congress proceedings. Several research areas received extensive coverage, including early detection of illness through the use of cognitive and behavioral precursors of schizophrenia and the etiology and treatment of childhood-onset and first episode schizophrenia. The etiopathophysiological hypothesis of schizophrenia as a disorder of neural dysconnectivity was promoted across cognitive, neurochemical, neuroimaging, and postmortem domains. The importance of cognition as a major outcome measure and the impact of new antipsychotics on the treatment and conceptualization of schizophrenia were also major topics. Overall, the conference was noteworthy for the convergence of findings across research domains.