Prepulse Inhibition (PPI) of Startle Reflex in Schizophrenia Patients Related to Type of Treatment and Illness Duration

It is common to relate changes of PPI to startle reflex to both negative and positive signs of schizophrenia. Results can both start to explain formations of delusions and hallucinations and the difficulty in processing information for surrounding. It was already tested and discussed in previous trials the relation between type of pharmaceutical treatment as affecting on PPI to startle reflex both causing changes, or improving previous results. In previous trials as opposed to our planned trial, not much attention was paid for the relation on the changes found to the type of treatment and the duration of the illness. Plus, most trails had different methods of assessing it than our method. The investigators assume that patients who are receiving typical antipsychotic treatment would have a reduced PPI response to startle reflex compared with those with atypical antipsychotic treatment and those with longer duration of illness would also have reduced PPI response to startle reflex in comparison to those with shorted duration of illness. The investigators aim to enroll patients already diagnosed with schizophrenia that would be sent by their psychiatrist to the trial. In addition the investigators would enroll control group, not diagnosed with any psychiatric condition. For both groups, the investigators would run PPI trials according to a unified protocol. In addition the investigators would run several questionnaires for the group of the patients. Among the details asked of the patient are the duration of the illness and the type of antipsychotic medications they are on and the dosage. Data will then be analyzed.