Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Causes:
• Schizophrenia is likely to be a diagnosis of complex inheritance.
• Several genes interact to generate risk for schizophrenia .
Genetic:
• Current research suggests that environmental factors play a significant role in the
expression of any genetic disposition towards schizophrenia.
• Recent twin studies suggested a more than 28% chance of one identical twin
obtaining the diagnosis if the other already has it, but such studies does not take
into account similarities of social class and socio-psychological factors between
the twins.
• A 2003 review of linkage studies listed seven genes as likely to increase risk for a
later diagnosis of the disorder. Two more recent reviews have suggested that the
evidence is currently strongest for two genes known as dysbindin (DTNBP1) and
neuregulin (NRG1).
Environmental:
• Considerable evidence indicates that stressful events cause/trigger schizophrenia.
Neurochemical pathways:
• dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
• overly simplistic as a complete explanation because atypical antipsychotic
medication can be equally effective as typical antipsychotic medication but also
affects serotonin function and less dopamine blocking effect.
• In addition dopamine pathway dysfunction has not been reliably shown to
correlate with symptom onset or severity.
• Interest has also focused on glutamate and reduced function of NMDA in
schizophrenia.
• Suggested by abnormally low levels of glutamate receptors found in post-mortem
brains of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Discovery that glutamate blocking
drugs such as phencyclidine and ketamine can mimic the symptoms and cognitive
problems associated with the condition. Fact that reduced glutamate function is
linked to poor performance on tests requiring frontal lobe and hippocampal
function and that glutamate can affect dopamine function suggest an important
mediating and possibly causal role of glutamate pathways in schizophrenia.
Further support come from preliminary trials suggesting the efficacy of coagonists
at the NMDA receptor complex in reducing some of the positive schizophrenic
symptoms.
Psychosocial factors:
see article
Autoimmune theory:
• Growing evidence of autoimmunity in etiology and pathogenesis of schizophrenia