What kind of mental image springs to mind upon reading the word ‘schizophrenia’? Many envisage an individual locked in a dark institution, constantly plagued by non-existent voices and vivid hallucinations. Even as a final year BSc Biology student with a neuroscience research placement under my belt, I too was guilty of this reflex association. Upon skimming through project titles on FindaPhD.com, the word “schizophrenia” jumped out of the page. My excitement was sparked as I envisaged myself unravelling the intricacies of psychosis. As I examined the project title more closely, I admittedly experienced a minor surge of disappointment: the research was interested in targeting the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. Cognitive deficits? I was unaware that cognition was significantly impaired in schizophrenia patients. And even if it was, did these symptoms really warrant extensive investigation? Surely, in the context of a disorder characterised by multimodal hallucinations and debilitating delusions, cognitive difficulties shouldn’t be an urgent therapeutic priority.
The failure of current antipsychotics
A few hours of literature research and an interview with my PhD supervisor later, my appreciation of schizophrenia had been completely transformed.
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