CONSIDERING THE ROLE OF THE AMYGDALA IN PSYCHOTIC ILLNESS - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATION

For many years, the structures of the medial temporal lobe have been i mplicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Recent hypotheses, bas ed on data from MRI and functional imaging, propose that disruption of frontotemporal neural networks may be an anatomical substrate of schi zophrenia. Many studies have focused on possible abnormalities of the hippocampus within this network. However, the role of the amygdala has been little studied because of the relative complexity of its structu re and the paucity of patients with confined amygdaloid lesions. The a uthors present a case of chronic psychosis in which postmortem finding s reveal lesions in and adjacent to the left amygdala. They use this c ase to review what is known of the functional anatomy of the amygdala and its possible role in some psychoses.