‘We have hope for some breakthroughs’: can we change the way we treat schizophrenia?

Scientists are cautiously optimistic that new approaches to treating the disabling condition may improve the lives of those affected by it

Fourteen years ago, the Icelandic neuroscientist Kari Stefansson led a landmark investigation into the genetic risk factors for developing schizophrenia, a debilitating mental health condition in which people may lose touch with reality.

Kari is the chief executive of deCode genetics, based in Reykjavik, which has studied genetic information from more than two thirds of the Icelandic population. Since 2009, its work has helped to draw an assocation between people with schizophrenia and those in creative professions. Icelandic writers, painters and musicians were all found to have an inherently higher risk of the condition, which typically develops in adolescence or early adulthood.