port from the Sixth International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, held at Colorado Springs, Colorado from April 12 through April 16, 1997, suggests the state of schizophrenia research at this time. Over 1,000 scientists presented their results and heard from others concerning the latest developments in the search for the cause and treatment of schizophrenia. One approach being used in analyzing and assessing the disease is informative animal models of schizophrenia, though the use of such models has been complicated by the uniquely human nature of the disease. For one thing, thought and language play a central role in the diagnosis, manifestation, and diversity of this illness. A better approach has been to develop models for specific aspects of the illness (Buchanan, Buckley, Tamminga, and Schulz 501-502).
Conceptual models of schizophrenia were also reported at the conference, involving the integration of data from multiple dimensions into a model of the etiology or the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, which provides a framework for organizing research methods and results. Dr. Robin Murray offered a neurodevelopmental model intended to integrate information on possible risk factors and on the genetic predisposition seen in patients with schizophrenia. Dr. Murray stated that schizophrenia is the end result of early central nervous system insults for those with a genetic predisposition, leading then to disturbed social and scholastic functioning in childhood and adolescence. Dr. Lieberman considered the view that a significant portion of
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