Hubris and humility in the life of the schizophrenia researcher - Comment

Objective: The goal of this paper is to provide a personal view of the challenges and satisfactions associated with schizophrenia research in the late 1990s. Method: Consideration is given to the successes and frustrations associated with several important discoveries relevant to psychiatry in the context of personal reflections on the 'maturity' of schizophrenia research as a field of scientific endeavour. Conclusion: Schizophrenia research provides many opportunities for its practitioners to experience and exercise their modesty. Despite impressive advances in the disciplines which are germane to it, our field is, for example, still far from identifying specific aetiological factors which operate in even a substantial minority of our patients. Historical examples illustrate how important it may be to maintain an attitude of single-mindedness, especially in the early phases of research in which seemingly bold but ultimately correct conjectures are unaccompanied by data that are sufficiently compelling to convince the wider scientific community. Considerable hubris is required in order to believe that one's conjectures are likely to be as correct as those that have led to substantive advances in our field.