The early detection of schizophrenic psychoses is an ongoing topic in psychiatry, especially in schizophrenia research.

Anyone who deals with this subject cannot avoid Klaus Conrad's book - it remains the most impressive, vivid and moving account of the onset of the illness. Anyone who reads this book can sympathise with what happens when a psychosis begins.

Conrad's research is based on medical records from the 1940s. In contrast to the individual case studies often used by psychiatrist colleagues, the special feature of his investigations was the »uniformed« experience material: all the sick were soldiers of the war year 1941/42 with an acute episode.