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Psychiatry has been crying out for new treatments for psychotic conditions like schizophrenia that promise broader benefits and fewer side-effects. However, progress has been blighted by the complexity of the brain and a lack of clear understanding of the causes of schizophrenia. The task has been so difficult that major pharmaceutical companies have largely abandoned mental health for other more tractable and lucrative areas of medicine. The situation has been extremely frustrating for patients, their families and clinicians.