1, the importance of early treatment in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia Schizophrenia is divided into pre-disease, prodromal phase, disease phase and recession or remission phase. The prodromal period refers to a period of time starting from the appearance of less obvious abnormalities in mental behavior to the time when the abnormalities in mental behavior meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. The illness phase refers to the period of time when the psychotic behavior abnormalities are more pronounced and the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are met. Because neurodevelopmental disorders run through the four stages of schizophrenia, and the severity of such neurodevelopmental disorders becomes increasingly severe as the disease stages extend from prodromal to postdromal, current pharmacological treatment for schizophrenia is mainly directed at symptomatic treatment during the disease and decline stages, when the severity of neurodevelopmental disorders tends to be more severe and therefore the efficacy is often unsatisfactory. Because the severity of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the prodromal phase is less severe than in the onset phase, interventions for schizophrenia in the prodromal phase are likely to improve the efficacy of schizophrenia treatment. 2. Superiority of treating the prodromal phase of schizophrenia with Chinese medicine Currently, small doses of antipsychotics and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy are mainly used internationally to intervene in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Since the positive rate of conversion to schizophrenia disease stage after two years of schizophrenia prodromal phase is 40%, the application of low-dose antipsychotics to intervene in the ultra-high-risk group of schizophrenia faces the risk of false-positive diagnosis and ethical controversy. Because neurodevelopmental abnormalities are the essential pathological feature of the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, although effective, can only be an adjunctive therapy. In view of this, international attempts are being made to intervene in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia with natural active substances that do not carry the risk of diagnostic false positives and are ethically controversial. Traditional Chinese medicine has the advantage of being free of ethical risks due to its low side effects for interventions in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Clinical practice in TCM psychiatry over the years has confirmed the therapeutic effect of TCM on schizophrenia and the improvement of cognitive impairment in the prodromal phase. Therefore, the application of Chinese herbal medicine to the prodromal phase of schizophrenia should achieve positive results and show obvious Chinese characteristics compared with cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and ω-3 fatty acid treatment.