Psych 101: The makings of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

"Schizophrenia is one of the most discussed and researched illnesses among psychologists, neuropsychologists, general doctors, and many others. There are several theories as to why it exists and how it develops. Between the different theories, few symptoms and manifestations of the disease remain consistent. A similar concept among most theories is the idea that there is no single cause to be identified as the root of schizophrenia.

One thing that almost every major theory posits is that the development of schizophrenia is most likely a result of both genetic and environmental influences. This result is derived from various familial studies that point to many different causes as the possibilities of the onset of this illness.

The scientific backing of genetic influences is derived primarily from family, twin and adoption studies. As a general statistic, if an immediate: family member has been diagnosed or suffers from a severe case of schizophrenia, you are about 10 times more likely to have it yourself.

In addition, identical twin studies have brought researchers to the conclusion that genes play an important role in deciding whether or not someone will develop the illness. Identical twins have a significantly greater

risk of having schizophrenia when compared to fraternal twins or siblings. Further, adopted siblings and family members have about the same chance as the average population.

Genetic links in to schizophrenia

While scientists have known that there are genetic links in to schizophrenia, they have only recently begun discovering what those links themselves are. With emerging technologies, scientists have been able to make more accurate measurements concerning the impact of deteriorated genetically influenced structures. The same portions of chromosomes and DNA have been found to be damaged throughout large portions of the population with schizophrenia. This information implies that these sections are in some way responsible for the development.

It is important not to mistake the findings with regards to genetic significance as a denouncement of the role of environmental factors. Leading theories suggest that while genes play a notable role in whether or not someone is prone to developing schizophrenia in their lifetime, social and environmental factors play a distinguished role as well. While this subject is currently heavily theorized, important progress is being made as to how to properly avoid "bad stress".

Even more puzzling is the fact that those who develop schizophrenia are likely to show brain image abnormalities. Unfortunately, across all patients, these abnormalities are not consistent. while some have enlarged cranial ventricles, others do not. while some seem to have abnormal amounts of neurotransmitters, a large portion does not. As a result of differing physical manifestations of this disease, some researchers argue that what they are calling schizophrenia is too broad of a term. They believe that new subsections of the disease should be created in order to more effectively group individuals with similar symptoms and physical abnormalities. "

"Overall, schizophrenia is still a very mysterious malfunction of the human mind. Schizophrenia seems to manifest itself in different forms across all cases which ultimately clouds the current field of the sciences involved."

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