The present study is designed to clarify the time course for the development of structural brain abnormalities previously found to be present in chronic schizophreniform illness admitted to any of the Department of Psychiatry affiliated facilities will be asked to submit to a brain MRI examination. Thirty controls will be recruited from the community and screened by structured interviews. Controls will be matched to patients for age, gender, and social class and similarly scanned. All subjects will be followed-up and rescanned two and five years after the original scan. All scans will be evaluated for the presence of ventricular enlargement, frontal and limbic system cortex abnormalities, and subcortical structural change (i.e. basal ganglia). Statistical analyses will be performed to determine whether first episode patients with schizophrenia have structural brian differences that are detectable in samples of chronic patients, and whether these are predictive of the course of illness. Repeat scans will determine whether or not brain structural differences between patients and controls are progressive, after the onset of illness, and whether their progression is related to clinical course or treatment.
