Schizophrenia and Psychiatric Comorbidities

Psychiatric comorbidities such as depression, anxiety and substance use are extremely common amongst people with schizophrenia. They add to poor clinical outcomes and disability, yet are often not at the forefront of the minds of clinicians, who tend to concentrate on assessing and treating the core symptoms of schizophrenia, notably delusions and hallucinations. There is an imperative to assess every patient with schizophrenia for psychiatric comorbidities, as they might masquerade as core psychotic symptoms and also because they warrant treatment in their own right. This volume addresses these issues using a clinical lens informed by the current literature. Published as part of the Oxford Psychiatry Library series, the book serves as a concise and practical reference for busy clinicians.

Contents

1.:Psychiatric comorbidities associated with schizophrenia: how should we conceptualize them?
2.:Psychiatric comorbidities in schizophrenia: the size of the problem
3.:Why are psychiatric comorbidities so common in schizophrenia and why are they so often missed in clinical practice?
4.:Autism and schizophrenia: neurodevelopmental "playmates?"
5.:Personality disorders and schizophrenia
6.:Generalised anxiety and panic disorder in schizophrenia
7.:Social anxiety disorder and schizophrenia
8.:Schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder
9.:Post traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia
10.:Depression and schizophrenia
11.:Understanding and assessing substance use in schizophrenia
12.:Assessment and management of substance abuse comorbidity in people with schizophrenia

David J. Castle, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Australia, Peter F. Buckley, Professor of Psychiatry and Dean, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA USA, and Rachel Upthegrove, Reader in Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health, and Consultant Psychiatrist, Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham, UK