‘Schizophrenia’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life

An article by an eminent philosopher promises to stir up controversy about introspection (metacognition) and understanding the mental states of others (mindreading), on the one hand, and autism and schizophrenia on the other.

A novel study tries to explain what appears to be the diametrically opposite nature of traits associated with autistic-spectrum disorders, on the one hand, and psychotic-spectrum disorders, on the other. With a particular focus on autism and on schizophrenia, the authors link social brain development and other phenotypic traits to evolutionary biology and genetics.

Headline writers are having a field day with the results of a meta-analysis to be published in The Lancet which found that cannabis users are 40% more likely than non-users to develop psychotic symptoms. Radio, print, and internet publications urge that more must be done to warn the public of the risks of cannabis use. But hold on, did the headline writers miss the lesson on correlation vs. causation in their Science for Journalists class?

Regular readers will remember Kathryn Keats, the singer and songwriter who penned some guest contributions for us about her experiences being held captive and spending years in a victim witness protection program, unable to perform her music in public. Now she’s released the first of her new singles, and you can download a free musical collage of more pieces from her new CD right here.

Is your intelligence partly influenced by the same gene that influences susceptibility to schizophrenia? Apparently so, say researchers in the US, because the gene for dysbindin-1, previously implicated in schizophrenia, appears also to influence general human intelligence.