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Machine Learning Predicts Clozapine Initiation in Schizophrenia

Photoreal illustration of an electronic health record dashboard with clinical text and a model output highlighted, representing ML prediction in psychiatry.

Clozapine is the only medication with proven efficacy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, yet most eligible patients wait years before starting it. A 2026 paper by Perfalk and colleagues trains a machine-learning model on routine electronic health record data to flag candidates earlier.1 Research Highlights Clozapine is the only evidence-based treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), but the …

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Lurasidone Improves Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia More Than Negative

MHD featured image for Lurasidone PANSS Domains: Positive Symptoms Lead, Negative Lag.

Lurasidone is approved for schizophrenia and bipolar depression on the strength of acute trials that mostly reported a single number: the change in PANSS total score. A 2026 post-hoc analysis of the JEWEL Phase 3 trial pulls that number apart, looking separately at five symptom domains and at all 30 individual items of the PANSS …

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Striatal Dopamine Drops From Psychosis to Schizophrenia Remission

Photoreal illustration of a brain with the striatum highlighted and dopamine synthesis pathways visualized, representing longitudinal PET imaging in schizophrenia.

The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia is the field’s longest-running mechanistic story, and most of its supporting evidence has been cross-sectional. A 2026 longitudinal PET study by Schulz and colleagues followed the same 28 patients across psychosis and early remission.1 Research Highlights The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia is the field’s longest-running mechanistic story. Cross-sectional 18F-DOPA PET …

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Black Americans Diagnosed with Schizophrenia 2.42x the Rate of White Americans: More Negative Symptoms

Photoreal illustration representing racial stress and mental health, with conceptual imagery of contemplation, identity, and cognitive pathways.

Black Americans are diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders at 2.42 times the rate of White Americans, and they also score higher on negative-symptom measures than White patients carrying the same diagnosis.2 A 2026 paper by Spann and colleagues asks why. Research Highlights Black Americans are diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders at 2.42x the rate of White Americans, …

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Schizophrenia and Aging: Advanced, Not Accelerated

Two parallel timelines representing chronological vs. biological age in schizophrenia: an early offset at first episode, then parallel trajectories afterward — illustrating advanced rather than accelerated aging.

“Schizophrenia ages you faster” is the headline that gets repeated whenever a new biomarker study lands. The 2026 Fernandez-Egea, Garcia-Rizo and Kirkpatrick review — covering 170 studies across mortality, brain imaging, telomeres, epigenetic clocks, and metabolic markers — pushes back on that framing.2 The aging signal is genuine. “Accelerated” is the part that overshoots for …

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Lupus Psychosis: 4.5% Prevalence and Antibody Predictors

Stylized illustration of autoantibodies and immune complexes crossing a disrupted blood-brain barrier, evoking the immune-mediated mechanism by which lupus produces psychosis.

Psychosis is one of 19 neuropsychiatric syndromes the American College of Rheumatology recognizes as attributable to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease that disproportionately affects young women.2 A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis from Parperis and colleagues in Lupus pooled 65 studies and 31,495 patients.1 The synthesis matters less for the headline 4.5% prevalence …

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