Schizophrenia is a phenotypically heterogeneous condition with varying presentations ranging from the typical delusions and hallucinations to deficit and disorganization symptoms. This clinical heterogeneity has probably limited our ability to conceptualize and arrive at a comprehensive pathophysiological explanation underlying the “disease” category of “schizophrenia.” The dimensional model of schizophrenia psychopathology came to the fore in the search for a satisfactory alternate conceptualization of schizophrenia psychopathology that could reflect the pathophysiological heterogeneity of the disease.[15] Liddle[16] suggested the presence of a fundamental abnormality central to schizophrenia that produces several distinguishable pathological processes, each of which produces a characteristic group of symptoms or a symptom dimension. The severity of each of these dimensions would reflect the relative contributions of the various pathological processes in a given patient. In view of the striking overlap between the clinical features of schizophrenia and the behavioral characteristics of fronto-temporal dysfunction, the individual dimensions of schizophrenia psychopathology may be linked to disturbances of the various fronto-temporal connections.
