The History of Schizophrenia Research in Japan

When schizophrenia research began in Japan in the late 19th century, it mainly followed the German school. Since World War II, however, Japanese research has been more influenced by the developments in American psychiatry. The research in Japan has included studies in epidemiology, histopathology, cerebral metabolism, animal models using amphetamine, postmortem brain chemistry, psychophysiology, psychopathology, and protective intervention from relapses. Principal domains of current studies are subjective phenomena in psychopathology and biological correlates of cerebral dysfunctioning in schizophrenia.