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Schizotypy and Schizophrenia: The View from Experimental Psychopathology book cover

1st Edition

Schizotypy and Schizophrenia The View from Experimental Psychopathology

By Mark F. Lenzenweger Copyright 2011

    This compelling book argues that all people with schizophrenia share a personality organization known as schizotypy. Presented is a novel framework for understanding schizophrenia through the study of individuals who may never develop the disorder, but who nonetheless harbor a liability for it. Mark F. Lenzenweger comprehensively reviews current knowledge about schizotypy while exploring broader questions of how to think about and conduct psychopathology research, making the book useful and relevant for both researchers and students. He demonstrates state-of-the-art strategies for combining clinical observations, psychometric and psychophysiological measures, neuroimaging, and genetic analyses, and for analyzing the results using advanced statistical techniques.

    I. Schizotypes and Schizotypy
    1. “Welcome to the Machine”
    II. The Experimental Psychopathologist’s Toolbox
    2. Reliability, Validity, and How We Collect Data
    3. Practical Tools and Pragmatic Issues
    4. Analytic Heuristics, Caveats, and Soapbox Moments
    III. Schizotypy Viewed from the Laboratory
    5. Recognizing the Schizotype
    6. Begin with a Model
    7. Genetics, Genomics, Phenotypes, and Endophenotypes: The Challenge of Complex Disease
    8. Probing Critical Neurocognitive Endophenotypes: Attentional Dysfunction, Executive and Working Memory Functioning, Eye-Movement Dysfunction, and Thought Disorder
    9. Motion and Touch: Simpler May Be Better
    10. The Schizotype through Time…
    11. Now, Just What about This “Type” Business in “Schizotype”?
    IV. Reactions, Reflections, and Projections
    12. Thoughts on Impediments, Imaging, Environment, Intervention, and Innovation
    Appendix A. Summary Rating Sheet from Manual for Use with Checklist of Schizotypic Signs
    Appendix B. Selected Quantitative Measures of Schizotypy
    Appendix C. Getting Started: A Provisional Reading List

    Biography

    Mark F. Lenzenweger, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Adjunct Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Dr. Lenzenweger held a professorial post at Cornell University for 11 years, where he was a member of the tenured faculty. He moved on to Harvard University, where he chaired the Quantitative Methods Committee in the Department of Psychology, as well as helped to relaunch the clinical science program there. He returned to upstate New York to accept an interarea professorship in clinical science, cognitive science, and behavioral neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton and was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2007. Dr. Lenzenweger has been recognized as a Distinguished Investigator by NARSAD: The Brain and Behavior Research Fund and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and the American Psychopathological Association. Widely published, he maintains active research programs in three areas: schizotypy and schizophrenia, longitudinal study of personality disorders, and quantitative methods. He also continues to see patients in long-term psychotherapy in private practice.

    Lenzenweger, a world-class scholar, teacher, and clinician, has produced a spectacular volume. This book is unique in conveying the adventures, joys, and dilemmas of thinking about and doing clinical research related to mental illness. Lenzenweger thoughtfully considers multiple psychological and biological methods and approaches, teaching about each of them in ways that stick with the reader. Centered on schizotypy and schizophrenia, the book contains valuable lessons that apply to all clinical areas. A tour de force, equivalent to having a very knowledgeable, curious, and likeable mentor at your elbow.--Jack D. Barchas, MD, Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College

    Written by an internationally recognized authority, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the complexities of schizophrenia and psychopathology research. Meticulous scholarship, accumulated wisdom, and personal anecdotes are combined into an engaging and highly readable text. In addition to highlighting classic findings and the most up-to-date research, Lenzenweger provides the reader with the benefits of his vast knowledge and unique perspective. Everyone from the beginning graduate student to the experienced researcher will find true gold in these pages.--Jill M. Hooley, DPhil, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

    Standing proudly on the shoulders of such giants of quantitative clinical psychology as Meehl and Maher, Lenzenweger offers us an unsurpassed view of the terrain called schizotypy and schizophrenia. The breadth and depth of his work are just plain amazing. No wishy-washy prose here; he tells readers that received wisdom may not be wise, and that the reception of such wisdom can arrive with distortions. He easily goes from psychometrics to endophenotypes to psychodynamics, all in a relaxed, user-friendly style. Reading this book is like listening in on a professor’s chat with bright students in an advanced psychopathology seminar. Even the footnotes contain probing questions that imply future dissertation topics. Looking for an exciting psychopathology textbook? Stop looking--it has arrived.--Irving I. Gottesman, PhD, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota

    For over 25 years, Lenzenweger has led the field in the laboratory study of schizotypy. In this book, Lenzenweger not only provides the tools, theory, and methodological approach for a sophisticated view of schizotypy, but also invites readers to explore the scientific challenges in this complicated research domain from his richly creative and uncompromisingly rigorous perspective. Clearly written, compelling, and replete with elucidating examples, Lenzenweger’s book is a tour de force. This book should be read and reread by any serious student of psychopathology.--Dante Cicchetti, PhD, McKnight Presidential Chair of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Institute of Child Development and Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota
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    An excellent introduction to the field of schizotypy and schizophrenia and the complexities involved in conducting research in this field. Lenzenweger has a straightforward writing style and speaks with authority, humor, and precision as he presents both classic findings and the most up-to-date research. The mix of analogies, metaphors, and scientific prose make for an engaging and informative read and his anecdotes from his university lectures make reading the book feel like receiving a private tutorial. This is a must-have textbook for students of psychopathology, personality, and clinical research. Of special note is the research format of this book; the reader is led through the minefield of conducting psychopathology research, from model development, through appropriate measurement to defining phenotypes and endophenotypes. What is of particular value is the time taken to disentangle the different linguistic terms within the field, to present and understand key concepts in schizotypy and in psychopathology, and to understand the caveats of such research....I would recommend this book to any researcher, student or established, looking for an introduction and overview to the exciting world of schizotypy research. The methodological approach makes it a necessary textbook for any student of experimental psychopathology.
    --Journal of Mental Health, 7/11/2010ƒƒ
    The text is essential for students, trainees, and junior researchers, but it may also provide insights and fresh ideas for the experienced researchers well acquainted with the challenges in the field of schizophrenia and of psychopathology in general....Provides a comprehensive review of research issues, which can be highly useful to anyone writing a Career Development (K) Award application or even a Research Project Grant (R01) submission, by revisiting design issues that may have become submerged or sidelined....Lenzenweger's illustrations are primarily drawn from his area of expertise, schizotypy research, but have relevance for other populations as well. The depth and breadth of his understanding of statistical analysis allow him to gently challenge many practices and assumptions made in psychopathology research, as well as to advocate embracing 'messy' data, going toward rather than away from heterogeneity....One of the appealing aspects of the text is Lenzenweger's capacity for pouncing on sloppy language, generalizations, and misconceptions in the field....Lenzenweger's perspectives and guidelines for psychopathology research are likely to be valuable even for those who do not share his vision regarding schizotypy and schizophrenia, and research attempting to rebut his conclusions may provide further insights into the complexities of this sphere of psychopathology. His 'view from experimental psychopathology' is rich in references and ideas for the scientist, the practitioner, the student, the professor, and all the individual variants on these continua.
    --PsycCRITIQUES, 7/11/2010
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