In an attempt to discern which “brain abnormalities” might be attributable to schizophrenia (mental condition) rather than drug-treatment, the researchers compared changes in the Schizophrenia Group relative to a group of children with transient psychosis (Psychosis Not Otherwise Specified).
	It is significant that the published paper by Thompson et al (PNAS, 2001)
	reveals that 20% (2 of 10) of the Psychiatric Control Group remained
	drug-free throughout the study.   However, the authors did not confirm that an equal number of patients in the Schizophrenia Group avoided antipsychotic drugs.
	Thus, when the researchers discovered less severe deficits in the Psychiatric Controls after five years (7.5% reduction in frontal gray matter relative to normal children, versus 13% reduction for the Schizophrenia Group), it is far from clear that these between-group differences were due to different “underlying” mental illnesses.
	Notwithstanding this problematic issue, however, the disturbing fact remains that both groups of psychiatrically medicated children experienced the progressive loss of cortical gray matter in the context of continuing antipsychotic drug use.