schizophrenia

October 22, 2025

Behind the curtain: Secrets of the volatile, delusional brain 

The VUMC approach, based on the “Feeling Safe Program” developed by British psychologist Daniel Freeman, targets specific factors that contribute to persecutory delusions, including worry, safety behaviors, avoidance and hallucinations (such as hearing voices).

By Bill Snyder
June 2, 2025

Landmark bequest from Charlotte and Donald Test Jr. to advance psychiatry research

Named for Donald Test’s late sons, and Charlotte’s stepsons, the Henry and William Test Endowment Fund will bolster the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences’ expansive research portfolio, promising a secure funding source for pathbreaking discoveries in areas such as schizophrenia, coordinated care models, brain imaging and neuromodulation.

By Sarah Wolf
November 8, 2024

People with schizophrenia show distinct brain activity when faced with conflicting information

Researchers introduce a biomarker to indicate whether someone is struggling with the inflexible thinking associated with the disorder.

By Joseph Caputo
October 30, 2024

Genetic risk, sexual trauma associated with mental illness: study

Evaluating how genetic risk interacts with environmental risk factors such as sexual trauma is important for understanding how mental illness develops and identifying high-risk groups for early intervention.

By Leigh MacMillan
After connecting the dots between cognitive impairment and brain network organization in people diagnosed with psychotic disorders, researchers discovered the same link in those who hadn’t had their first psychotic episode.
September 4, 2024

Groundbreaking study links cognition and brain networks before the first psychotic break

Early detection opens the door to intervention via noninvasive neuromodulation for those with treatment-resistant symptoms of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

By Danny Bonvissuto
February 29, 2024

Study targets nicotine craving in schizophrenia

Vanderbilt’s Heather Burrell Ward, MD, has received a five-year, $928,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to test whether an externally applied magnetic field can reduce nicotine craving in people with schizophrenia.

By Bill Snyder
August 17, 2023

Grant aids drug discovery for autism, schizophrenia

Federal grant to help Vanderbilt researchers will pave the way for potential treatments for schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder
By Paul Govern
September 20, 2021

Brain circuits in schizophrenia

Vanderbilt psychiatrists are probing brain circuit hyperactivity implicated in schizophrenia, with the idea that normalizing the hyperactivity may improve cognitive processes.
By Leigh MacMillan
September 2, 2021

White matter and schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia have functional changes in the white matter of the brain, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered, which may contribute to impaired working memory and processing speed.
By Emily Stembridge
October 1, 2020

Pinpointing brain changes in psychosis

Specific regions of the thalamus — a central brain region — are smaller in adults with psychotic disorders and youth at risk for psychotic disorders and are associated with cognitive impairment.
By Leigh MacMillan
June 23, 2020

A connection to schizophrenia

The insula, a small region of the brain involved in diverse brain functions had widespread dysconnectivity in schizophrenia, Vanderbilt researchers found.
By Bill Snyder
September 10, 2019

Relational memory in early psychosis

Studies of relational memory function may reveal novel mechanisms for therapeutic intervention for patients in the early stages of psychosis.
By Kelsey Herbers
July 11, 2019

Working memory in psychotic disorders

Functional MRI studies have revealed that targeting activation of certain brain regions may improve working memory and cognition in psychotic disorders.
By Kelsey Herbers
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