Can "Schizophrenia" Reflect Changes in the Blood-Brain Barrier System?

Possible pathophysiologic alterations which might lead to the clinical behaviors and way of life which are termed schizophrenic have been postulated by some investigators for many years and have most recently been championed as causative agents by such investigators as Heath, Osmond, Hoffer, Callbeck, Kahan and Pauling. In the early decades of this century, specific neuropathologic lesions were sought at autopsy in many schizophrenics but lesions were never found in consistent patterns and it became apparent that if a specific organic cause of schizophrenia exists, it must be subtle. Over the past several years, much research on the nature of schizophrenia has been undertaken and some exciting new theories presented. Unfortunately, a great many of these theories have suffered from assuming isolated, parochial views of the schizophrenic process. Thus, there are psychological and organic theories to explain the etiology of these complex collections and systems of behavior and within these two groups there are genetic theories, neurochemical theories, abnormal metabolite theories, analytic theories, behavioral theories, cognitive theories and many more.