Experimental and clinical findings have indicated that schizophrenia is a heterogenous psychiatric disorder with biochemical, psychophysiological, psychological and genetic components. Pharmacological treatment is a particularly effective intervention, but not a cure for all patients. Because of its very nature, this disorder is difficult to study. Patients are not constantly psychotic and their clinical state may change, regardless of medication conditions. However, we are now able to study a schizophrenic patient population intensively and longitudinally, with and without pharmacological approaches during different clinical states. We are beginning to ask fundamental questions about the nature of schizophrenia, indications for pharmacological treatment, vulnerability to psychotic decompensation and the role that genetics may play in the transmission of the disorder. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 2 million people suffer from schizophrenia. Our work integrates the multidisciplinary approaches in an effort to understand this complex disorder which may lead to a more effective treatment. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Buchsbaum, M., van Kammen, D.P., and Murphy, D.L.: Individual differences in average evoked responses to d-and 1-amphetamine with and without lithium carbonate in depressed patients. Psychopharmacology 51: 129-135, 1977. van Kammen, D.P., Bunney, W.E., Jr., Docherty, J.P., Jimerson, D., Post, R.M., Siris, S., Ebert, M., Gillin, J.C.: Amphetamine-induced catecholamine activation in schizophrenia and depression. Behavioral and physiological effects. In: E. Costa and G.L. Gessa (Eds.): Advances in Biochemical Pharmacology. New York, 1977, 16: 655-659.