Neuroprogression and staging in psychiatry: historical considerations

focused on the progressive nature of some cases ofbipolar disorder. The study of neuroprogression hasexpanded rapidly ever since. In fact, at the time of writingof this editorial, 52 papers on this topic had already beenpublished in different areas such as schizophrenia, earlyintervention in affective disorders, geriatric bipolar dis-order, aging, obesity, and nicotine dependence. Webelieve that the concept has proven to be useful inunderstanding the multidimensional changes described inthe context of illness progression in psychiatry.We can track the origins of the concept of neuropro-gression back to the Zeitgeist of psychiatric systematicsin the mid-19th century. At the time, the motto was ‘‘from(clinical) forms to (disease) transformations,’’ as stated byKahlbaum.