Juvenile-Onset Schizophrenia: Assessment, Neurobiology, andTreatment. Edited by Robert L. Findling & S. Charles Schulz. The Johns Hopkins University Press.2005. 311 pp. US£49. 95(hb). ISBN 0801880181

Editing a book in which chapters are written by multiple authors from different perspectives is a difficult task. Some authors present complex methodology from their own large studies whereas others review recent evidence. The editors of Juvenile-Onset Schizophrenia have, however, managed to bring together these different perspectives and the reader is presented with an abundance of clinically useful information.

With 13 chapters ranging from phenomenology and assessment, neurophysiology and development, and the prodromal course to pharmacological and psychosocial treatment, the scope and aims of the book are large. I enjoyed flicking from gyrification of the cerebral cortex through molecular genetic studies to school interventions (although this was somewhat bereft of detail – don't let your school-children with psychosis study Kafka is the upshot).

I like the way this book makes hard science relevant to clinical practice. The only oversight I can see is that there is no mention of recent advances in our understanding of the role of cannabis in the development and precipitation of schizophrenia. This is highly relevant to the adolescent population.

Schizophrenia is a diagnosis that bridges the adolescent–adult chasm in psychiatry and so it behoves both camps to be well informed of recent advances. Sometimes it still feels as if general adult and child and adolescent psychiatrists are looking at the same clinical picture from very different perspectives. This book should raise awareness of juvenile-onset schizophrenia and that must be for the good.

This is not a book I will reach for every day, but I have enjoyed reading it and will undoubtedly use it. It is also a good resource for teaching medical students about the neurobiology underpinning schizophrenia or for an overview of the prodrome.

I would recommend this to practising clinicians who, even if infrequently, see patients with early-onset schizophrenia, be they in child and adolescent or adult services.