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Can Brain Damage Protect Against Schizophrenia?

A Case Report of Twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

ShôN W. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, London W6 8RP
Ian Harvey
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Maria Ron
Affiliation:
National Hospitals for Nervous Diseases, London WC1
Robin Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Adrianne Reveley
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AF
*
Correspondence

Abstract

In a pair of male monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia, MRI revealed no abnormality in the ill proband, but extensive white-matter damage of likely congenital origin in the psychiatrically normal twin. These findings are difficult to reconcile with multifactorial models of schizophrenia, and raise the possibility that some forms of brain damage may preclude expression of the schizophrenia genotype.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

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