Computer tests for schizophrenia 'proves accurate'

Researchers in Canada say they have developed a computer test to diagnose schizophrenia before symptoms of the mental illness occur.

A report, in the New Scientist magazine, says that a psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Peter Liddel, has used brain scanning to look for changes in areas of the brain involved in memory and learning.

The test looks for abnormal patterns of blood flow, which indicate disruptions in brain activity typical of people with schizophrenia.

Approximately one person in a hundred develops schizophrenia, which is characterised by behaviour changes and delusions.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service