A team of scientists have made a dramatic new discovery that could provide hope for patients suffering with schizophrenia.

Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), researchers from the United Kingdoma nd China have proven that brains are able to repair themselves and battle mental illness, according to a Lawson Health Research Institute statement.

Scientists followed 98 patients with schizophrenia and 83 that had not been diagnosed with the illness,a nd then exxamined them with an MRI to determine the increase in brain tissue.

Most current treatments aim to reduce rather than reverse cognitive decline, but this study shows that even with severe tissue damage, a schizophrenic brain will constantly try to reorganize itself.

The findings could lead to the development of targeted treatments that could better address the core causes of schizophrenia.

The findings were published in the journal Psychology Medicine. The study is titled “Dynamic cerebral reorganization in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia: a MRI-derived cortical thickness study.”

“These findings are important not only because of their novelty and the rigour of the study, but because they point the way to the development of targeted treatments that potentially could better address some of the core pathology in schizophrenia,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Reiss, Site Chief, Psychiatry, LHSC. “Brain plasticity and the development of related therapies would contribute to a new optimism in an illness that was 100 years ago described as premature dementia for its seemingly progressive deterioration.”

“Dr. Palaniyappan and his colleagues have opened new avenues of research into our understanding of schizophrenia,” says Dr. Paul Links, Chair/Chief, Psychiatry, LHSC. “Their findings may lead us to be able to harness the brain’s own compensatory changes in the face of this illness and improve recovery. We are excited that Dr. Palaniyappan will be continuing this important clinical research here in London with his international colleagues.”