Holzman P S
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Schizophr Res. 1994 Aug;13(1):1-9. doi: 10.1016/0920-9964(94)90055-8.
The success of the neurosciences in opening pathways to the understanding of psychotic disorders has led to enormous optimism about solutions to the mysteries of these illnesses. Yet the Holy Grail for this field--the discovery linkage between a chromosomal locus that is linked to a diseased gene--has thus far eluded us, whereas it has been grasped in such disorders as cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, and neurofibromatosis. This paper argues that those biological studies that bypass the psychological domain, and have directly attempted to find biochemical measures associated with schizophrenia, probably will not succeed. Seeking direct links from such molar behaviors as psychotic symptoms to molecular events has not worked in the past, and is not likely to work in the future. The approach recommended here focuses on working one's way from the behavioral through the psychological and psychophysiological levels toward the neural, biochemical and molecular levels. Psychology has much strength to contribute in the search for traits that broaden the phenotype of schizophrenia. Examples are given in the study of eye movement abnormalities as aids in the genetic exploration of schizophrenia.
神经科学在开辟理解精神障碍途径方面取得的成功，使人们对解决这些疾病的奥秘充满了极大的乐观情绪。然而，该领域的圣杯——发现与致病基因相关的染色体位点之间的联系——迄今为止仍未实现，而在囊性纤维化、亨廷顿舞蹈症和神经纤维瘤病等疾病中已经找到了这种联系。本文认为，那些绕过心理领域、直接试图寻找与精神分裂症相关的生化指标的生物学研究，可能不会成功。过去，寻求从诸如精神症状等整体行为直接联系到分子事件的做法没有奏效，未来也不太可能成功。这里推荐的方法是从行为层面出发，经过心理和心理生理层面，逐步深入到神经、生化和分子层面。在寻找能够扩展精神分裂症表型的特质方面，心理学有很大的贡献。文中列举了眼球运动异常研究作为精神分裂症基因探索辅助手段的例子。
