Health-Related Quality of Life Impairment in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders as a Target for Neuroprotective Therapy

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. Today the neuroscience and clinical researches have advanced sufficiently to develop neuroprotective approach for discovery a novel generation of compounds with neuroprotective properties. However, the use of neuroprotective agents in schizophrenia is not yet well established. There are two main targets for neuroprotective therapy: (1) neurodegenerative processes in schizophrenia (e.g., apoptosis, excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, stress sensitization, neurotrophic factor expression, and alteration of neurosteroids); and (2) clinical, and behavioral presentations of illness including psychopathological symptoms, a significant decline in cognition, psychosocial functioning and in health related quality of life (HRQL) of patients. The HRQL deficit or impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Based on the author’s and his team research contributions for last ten years, and complementary theoretical considerations, this paper presents the Distress/Protection Vulnerability Model of HRQL impairment in schizophrenia and related disorders. This model has reshaped our understanding of schizophrenia phenotype and will be essential useful for designing more effective clinical and neuroprotective trials.