Schizophrenia is one of the most bizarre and serious psychological disorders. In this disorder the affected individual loses contact with reality and appears to live in a different world. He/she may experience hallucinations, delusions, appears to be expressionless or emotionless and fails to make sense of the surroundings. The overall behavior of patients is extremely disorganized and they show marked performance deficiencies accompanied by general behavior disorientation. The various types of schizophrenia are undifferentiated type, paranoid type, catatonic type, disorganized type and residual type. Between 1 and 2 percent of all people in the United States suffer from this disorder.
Etiology of Schizophrenia: Factors that lead to its development
Research findings point to the roles of several factors that play a dominant role in the development of this disorder.
Genetic factors: Schizophrenia, like several other psychological disorders tends to run in families. The closer the family ties between two individuals (blood relatives), the higher the likelihood that if one develops the disorder, the other will show symptoms of this disorder as well. Schizophrenia does not appear to be traceable to one single gene and research shows that may genes and environmental factors operate together to produce a tendency towards the development of this disorder.
Brain Dysfunction: Additional evidence suggests that several types of brain dysfunctions occur in persons with schizophrenia. For instance, some findings indicate that certain ventricles are larger in schizophrenics than in other persons and this increased size may produce abnormalities in the cerebral cortex. In fact, the decreased brain volume resulting from enlarged ventricles has been found, in research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to be related to increased hallucinations and reduced emotion among schizophrenics.
Another theory relates the onset of this disorder to a natural ‘pruning’ of neural circuits in the brain that seems to occur as individuals leave adolescence and become adults. This removal of unessential circuits seems to help the brain function more efficiently, so it provides important benefits. This process goes astray in some individuals whose brains ‘prune’ more aggressively. The result is that crucial neural links are eliminated, thus making such individuals susceptible to the disordered thought process and behaviors that are key symptoms of schizophrenia.
Biochemical factors: several findings point to the possibility that disturbances in the functioning of certain neurotransmitters may pay a role in the development of schizophrenia. Drugs that increase dopamine activity in the brain tend to intensify schizophrenic symptoms. Drugs that block the action of dopamine in the brain are effective in reducing many symptoms of schizophrenia, especially positive symptoms.
Psychological Factors: The fact that schizophrenia seems to run in families raises the possibility that some families create social environments that place their children at risk for this disorder. For instances, on relapses among schizophrenic patients their families adopt certain patterns of expressing emotion that are absurd. Specially, patients are more likely to suffer relapses when their families engage in harsh criticism, express hostility towards them and show too much concern with their problems.
