Clinical Service:
Schizophrenia is an often chronic, severe, and disabling disorder that can be found all over the world. People with schizophrenia may have perceptions of reality that are different from the reality seen by others around them, resulting in sometimes odd or even bizarre behavior. Despite considerable improvements in available therapies over the last 25 years, the severity of symptoms and a sometimes lengthy road to recovery during treatment is still very demanding on patients, their relatives and the therapeutic team. Our main goal is to enable clients with schizophrenia to lead independent, satisfying lives. In order to achieve this, patients do not only need medical and psychological, but also social support to be able to return to their normal course of life. We seek to help our patients by employing a multi-disciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, co-therapists, nurses and social workers. Therefore we use an integrated treatment approach that is specially tailored to our patients’ needs, including antipsychotic medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, social rehabilitation, social skills training, ergotherapy and physiotherapy. In addition we also provide special services including psychoeducation and horse-assisted therapy. Our clinic also offers treatment for specific groups of patients, including a mother and child unit for patients with postpartal psychoses and their offspring, as well as highly specialized diagnostic and psychiatric treatment options for vietnamese patients with our without psychotic symptoms and their relatives provided by a native Vietnamese-speaking psychiatrist. Continuity of care is ensured by providing an inpatient unit, a day clinic and a specialized outpatient unit.
Research:
The schizophrenia research group focuses on the neuro-cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. Other projects include the investigation of genetic mechanisms of antipsychotic medication side effects, the development of alternative therapeutic strategies and intercultural research on stigmatization.
1. Neuropsychological endophenotypes of schizophrenia
This study aims to investigate the neuro-cognitive deficits of schizophrenia with an endophenotype approach. Based on the endophenotype hypothesis, we speculate that intermediate phenotypes, i.e. specific deficits that are not obvious and have to be challenged, are more closely related to the genetic basis of schizophrenia than the clinical picture. The characterization of these intermediate phenotypes thus may aid identification of relevant genetic variations. A strong candidate for an intermediate phenotype of schizophrenia is provided by an executive deficit. This executive deficit can be tapped by the Attention Network Test which we can explore by neurophysiological means. For questions regarding this project, please contact andres.neuhaus@charite.de
2. Mechanisms of clozapine-induced agranulocytosis
This study aims at identifying genetic variations that may lead to life-threatening decrease of white blood cells under clozapin therapy. Agranulocytosis is a rare, but dangerous condition that restricts the use of clozapine, which otherwise is of great importance for therapy of schizophrenia. Early detection of patients at risk for this adverse event would therefore considerably increase the clinical utility of clozapine. For questions regarding this project, please contact michael.dettling@charite.de
3. Horse-assisted therapy of schizophrenia
Our horse-assisted therapy is conceptualized as an integrative element of in- and outpatient therapy. This specific therapy is being conducted as a nation-wide pilot project to investigate its efficacy for treatment of negative symptoms. For questions regarding this project, please contact carolin.opgen-rhein@charite.de
4. Implementation of a game software for testing and training visual attention
This project is dedicated to the study of visual attention deficits in schizophrenia and its treatment by computer-based training. Some studies suggest that especially cognitive deficits of visual attention can be at least partially compensated by using specialized training software. In this project, a video game software is being developed for training specific components of visual attention that are impaired in schizophrenia. For questions regarding this project, please contact carsten.urbanek@charite.de
5. Intercultural stigmatization
This study focuses on the intercultural aspects of stigmatization of patients with schizophrenia. We investigate, for example, whether patients recruited from our Vietnamese outpatient clinic show differences in stigmatization, illness concept and socio-professional deficits, when compared to our German patients. Another investigation centers around the question, how and owing to which factors, healthy controls with a Vietnamese immigrant background in the first and second generation differ from people living in Vietnam. For questions regarding this project, please contact eric.hahn@charite.de
6. Associations between cerebral lateralization, nicotine and schizophrenia
We are investigating the association between cerebral lateralization and nicotine dependence in schizophrenia. Cerebral lateralization is viewed as the specialization of one hemisphere for a specific function, e.g. left-hemispheric dominance for language. Many investigations indicate a disturbed lateralization in schizophrenia. We aim to investigate the tripartite relation between lateralization, nicotine and schizophrenia, as well as their potential interrelations, given that nicotine consumption is considerably higher in patients with schizophrenia, compared with the general population and that nicotine may exert an influence on lateralization. This study is conducted in cooperation with the cluster of excellence of the Department of Biopsychology of the Ruhr University Bochum (Prof. O. Güntürkün). For questions regarding this project, please contact eric.hahn@charite.de
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